RHO D E ISLAND HISTORY

Published byTill. R"ODl IHANn IIISTOklCAl SOCIETY

5 2 PO..... EIl STRHT, PkovIDP"Cl, RHODE ISLAND

Bradford F. SWJn , Pl<>~,dl'nl

Bayard Ewin g. vrcc rrt:,~idcnl

Mr s. GcoIJ;e E. Do wni ng, Vice PresidentFrank L. Hinckley, lr.. Secre tary.\'t rs. Norman T. Boll es, As~ i .HlJnt SecretaryTo....-ncs .\ 1. Harris, Ir., T reasu rerDuncan Hunter l\13u13n , Assist /lnr TreasurerJohn T. Kirk, Director

rUIILICAl lON S COM M ITT EE

Norman T. Bolles, ChrnrmunGarrett LJ, Byrn esFrancis it Cha fec, M .D.Houghton 1'. Metcalf Jr.James F. Reilly

STA ff

Albert T Klyhcr,;;, Edil (J(

Noel P. Conlon , Research AswciateMi ldr ed C. Tilley , Picture Associate

The Rhode Idand J /l s l(trj~l Soc ie ty assumesno re ' I'IJJlSlbJlHy for the stalelllen ts 0/ theopjllion.~ of co nmburors.

Issued QU3rte rly .tt Providence, Rhode Island,February, J\hy , August, and November. Secondcla ss postage p.nd 3t Prov iden ce, Rhod e Island.

Table of Conterne

T he Merchant As Gambler : Ma jor WilliamFairchild Megee Ii 765-18201by lacq nes M . lJ owm 99

Sti ll More Notes On Rhode IslandCabinetmakers and Allied Craftsmenby Joseph K. Ott I I I

The Rhode Island Historical Society FilmArchive : A Progress Reportby Kathleen Karr 122

Richard Lellarun Bowen, 1878-1969by Cla rkson A. Coll tns.ard 127Direc tor 's Ncw slene r 128

VO LUME 28, N U M BER 4 NOVEMB ER 1969

On Ih~ 150lh amlwcI<an'of ' hI:" Declaration of lnde­pt"lldmct", 192(,_ ,Ill: G.A. R. 4rh 01 /uly celebration In

PWI'"lcnce W,.l\ rccurJf'J by a newneeJ camera This 35mm.mfrlll<' tum ,,1 the 'ICC"'/fm W.J.' x.u·en ro ou r Sociery brthe lllle fJ\\.JrJ A/Eve ol /he vaudeville rheaue chain. for\ U'wmXdKain m 1976

98

Whampo.1 RI"<1ch . mort' th.m leo miles from rhe ci lyofCatncm. W<1.' !hl" ~hlp1O<1dl whe re rhe CdUlIUU' Clllm'_~1"

reotured !h l" vc~h U1 \\/lllh.lrn F. A1 i'~t·t ,mJ other for-... ,!/.ou, 10 remam nr anchor whl/e their cuxoes werel(<ln"hlpped w C,ullon. Thll Chme,e p<l1nfmy;. une of the('<lr/leU01 a irequcmlv del'Kled scene. han"., In

101m HrO\\'11 Hnu,,,.

99

The Merchant As Gambler:Major W ill iam Fairch ild Megee 11765-18201

It is sai d that Fort une tuvo rs rhc bold . It oft en appears,

hOWCW 1. that the dincrcn cc between a sh rewdspeculator an d a compulsive gamble r is th e succ ess ofthe for mer Th us, through the prove rb a tautologybecomes rhc wisdom of thc race.

T he Iif .. 01 rhc colorful ;lOU vent ureso me \ ....ttl ltam

Fairchild Mc~ce provides a case in point. A self-m ademan In the Franklin mold, M egee ca me within arm 'slengrh 01 .I mater fort un e before hi s lu ck ran out.

His danng. imaginauon and luc k transformed himirom an obscure clerk in to J m erch ant pr ince withina dozen vea rs!

In the earlv m aritime hlstorv of Pro vidence, M ege ewas J ra ther importa n t figure, lor in his intenseacuv lIy he touched many o f the people who built th elmle lOwn inro the second seapon 01 N ew England .

He \\.1S aboa rd the lir ~t Rh oJe Isla nd vessel to reachthc fa r East , and In the next doz en years or so amassed.1 tor tunc an d .1 fleer . He built a magnificent country

eStAte w uh extensi ve gro unds, luxuriou s Chinesetur rus hings and an .rviarv ti lled with c xonc Orientalbi rds. In 17W ,.1t the heigh t of h is com mercia l ca reer,,\ ie gl'c was dcscri hcd ter sel) ' as " age ,~ R, heigh t 5 feel ,.1 inches, dark cornplccunn. ho rn At Newport, R.I. ' .;zA decJue lat er he W,IS ,. picturesque innkeeper at

Canton spomng a long , grey beard And was " so much at

ho me. he on ly wants n tail to make .1 China mannut of him " In th e int erven ing years. Mcgee ha dcng.rgcd in some co lossal co m me rci al gambling and

had m ad e a dvspcr.ue attempt to repair his saggingto-tun es hy uudcrtakmj; 'I sluvm g voyage just beforethat unsavory lrJde becam e illegal. Faili ng in thisr.u hc r drscrcdunhlc en terprise, Mcgee cheerfu lly wen t

hankrupr, in tunn un g busin ess 'Issociates, in-laws

"De partm en t of lh\tur,' , SI, Francis College,Biddetord. Marne

The sources I" r thi-, amcle a re scat tered all over NewEugf.and R:aSle .lft' the wtlha m F, Me).:cc Papers, pan ofrhe !":l).:hl lll).:.llc-k neke\ Collt-ctlun al The Rhode IslandHlq " w.::a l ~"ClCI\' Thc h iward Carr in).;tun ParerS.lf TheRhode Isb nu II I' lnTlcal Soclet\ and Brown &. IvesCollc~ lIUll ,11 ' he I"hn ClItel Brown Lihrary also cont aina number "I rclcfCnCe)In Me,!;~ , ~ lIlce hoth Ihe Brown~

anJ C.lrllll).:l"n welc ITlend~ .lnJ w melime Imsiness.l)"It,'I:a I('\ ,,' ,\k,!;ee In .\ \a~'.IC husell', Ihe V.lTlOUSI'Clklns-Slur,!;" furhc, l "lIeCUnn'.l1 H.lt\' .lIU and the

an d even drs irucrcstcd citizens o f Providence. He then

sailed for C hma o ne last time, leaving hi s debts, hisqua rrels an d his ..... i le be hind him .

M cgee ....' .15 hom in Ne.....por t, on March 26, 1765,

th e son of lo hn M egee, a bake r, an d Phebe FAi rchild ,wh o was rel a ted to seve ra l prominent merchants ofthat POIl At th e t im e, Newport .....as one oi th e leading

com mercial cities on the eas te rn seaboard, snd a boygrowing up th ere co uld hardly have avoided int imateco n tac t ..... irh imema nonal trad e and seafaring life

gen erally. Alter th e Revolution , of course, it wass..... iftly ou tdis tanced by its neigh bor at the head o fN arragan serr Bay, a humble to wn hearing th e loftyname of Prov iden ce.

John Megee prospered Ior a time, espe cially whenhe .....o rked Ior th e /o:fe.tt m er chant Isaa c Stelle in th e

17SOs, but not long aft er he st ruc k out in business forhimself , M CKee wcnebankru pt (1767). Ten yearsl.uer he die d, leaving hrs ..... ife with small children to

sup po rt. incl udi ng l2 'y car'old William .l Thc loll o ..... inggris ly entr y ar rears in the Flee t Greene d iary, .....hich

was kept at N ew port du ring the British occupationof th e city: " last night the body of Mr. Megee wastaken up ami robbed of the linen after bei ng bu rriedfor upwa rds o f six weeks."!

Phebe M cgee appa rently su pported the fam ilyrhereancr hy following her dead husband's t rade, foron August 25, 17l:! l , she advertised in the Newporti\'lClCUry :

Alrs. M exn' hcrchy micwms her cus tom ers (Jnd the[l1l/JI1r JIl xc nn <l l tlld! S}lC now c(/rric,~ Oil tile HilkingIlll,~jfJl.'.\ S in til l.' bilk£' IlnU,IChelonging to Mr. GeorgeL'ibb.'i, wllere ,, }J( ~ !to/,e s II con u n uan cc vf thei r custom ,

w/lidl IV Ii' he !!!J d fcf lill y ilcknvw!cd;:cd. Augu.\f 3, 1781 ,

Massach usetts lI i' lnriCdl Soc icr v include d nu mher ofle tte rs III JIllcrcS! IOf the same reason . Fmallv rhe Brow n&. lves Ccllcc non .lnd The Rhode bl and Histori calSoc ret v ha ve sever al In).;s 01 the vhrps on which Megee'.ll lcJ or In wh ich he had an 1IllCfCSl

1 Re,!; lslcr 01SCdmen'S rrolecll uns, r Oil of Pro\·iJence,Bouk I, Mav 1, [799, l' ron J enec Cus tuffi Huusc PapcIs,Th e Rhode [slanJ IlIslOo <:: OI I Socit'ly.

J The Rhode Island cemus of 1781 1i~ls six people in the:' lcgee householJ

of !'<ovcm ber I I, 1777. A t ~'rescr ipt of fhis dl.lfV is to befoun d al The Rhw e hbnd fll slOTlc.11 SOCICI\·.

100 .\URcttAST A~ GAMBltR

It is quhc possible that he re-in his rela t ive pov­

erty and the humiliation of being su pported by hisw ido w ed morher-e-is the oriRin a t Mcgee's very strong

ruonvauon.tW hate ver the case, .....e know very lill ie abou t

Mcgee's carly lite, education, religious co n victions,triendships and mhcr tics-material w hlch would help

grcatlv III iillinR out a picture of his character. Frag'mentary evidence indicaII'S that he probably went 10

wor k in loh n Brown 's cuununghousc in Pro viden cein the early 17KOs.6 Brown was one O[ th e forem ostmerchants in the state, and was particularly not ed for

his encrxy and his crc.mve commercial imagination.He was one of th e prime move rs of th e Rh od e Island

eco nomy of th e peri od , bei ng a founder of the fir st

ha nk an d thc fi rst ins urance co m pany in Prov idence

and owner of the first local shi p to sail to Chin a.An apprenticeship under Bra ....-n. th erefore, afforded avoung man an unusually good com merci al educa tion.

One can only Ruess at th e pow er of suc h a sti m ulusupon the tale nte d and am hiti ous Newport yo u ngster.

The nex t step in a voung mer chant 's career .....as

generally a sea VO"'aRe for the firm, often as cle rk orsupe rca rgo. Alt hough it is nut clea r w hat hi s jobwas, M aReI' sai led aboa rd Brown 's Gt'neral Wa.~hinR lOn

w ith Captai n jonatha n Dennison . on Providence's

first voy age to China The supercargo. M a jor Sam uelWar d, hla:ed a trail which M e,i:ee and several othersaboa rd the vessel w ere to foliow for the better partof thei r lat e r lives.' The ship set sail on Christmas Eve

17R7 , on ly ~O d,IYS afte r Megee's marriage to M ary(" Polly"l Sweeting of Providence."

~1c,i:e e must have been groomed to rake ove r Samuel

W ar d's place, for on the shi p's next tw o Chinavoy ages [1790·91 and 1792-931, M egee was supercargo.?It was during th e seco nd of th ese, only two months

afte r the shi p had left Prov iden ce rhat M rs. M egee

:; Cer tamlv a number of ~e ..... En,l:land's most active mer'chants .....ere SImilarly circumstanced in their you th.In the Chi n" tude alone. om: thinks 01Thomas Handa­svd and lames Perkms, John MUHJYand Robert BennetForbes, Iohn I'erktns Cushmg and Samuel Russell.Relauve poverty and the loss of at least one parent seemto have been powerful vnmuh Indeed. the Puritan viewof poveny sull had a strong held on Yankee consciences.for as Wilham Stu r~ls .....as to wrrte lohn P. Cushingsome furty ycars later. "to he poor is with us to becri rrnnal in the highest degree." Ma rch 2..1. 1812; Bryant&. Sturgis Lctterbook, SJ, Baker libra ry. HarvardBusmess School.

d ied . poss ibly in cbildbitrh. since Will iam Fairchild

Megee, l r. was horn the same vear,"egee amvcd home to the news that he , ,':IS a

fathe r and a ....-idow er on M ay I ~, 1 79.~ . W ith a smallhaby on h is ha n ds, Mcgee W;IS in a ra ther awkward

posi t ion for a seagoi n ,':: man However, in the practi calatmosphere of rhe day, wido.....ers. particula rly pros­perin,i: ones, did not last long. On December 21 of the

sa me yea r, he ma rrie d Susan nah N i,i:h l ingale an dsettled in Prov iden ce. M egee' s new w ife WJS well con­nec ted. T he N i,i:h ti ngol1es .....e re among the leadin gme rchants o f Providence. Altoget her , with h is suc­

cesses in tr ade and marriaRe, M egee seemed ....·1'11 alongthe TO.1d to becoming a m a jor com mercial Ilgure inth e young nat ion .

One of h is new in-law s, Josep h Nigh tin gale, beca mepar t-owner in Megee 's ne xt ship, th e H<1kron . ....·hile

J. former in.la..... , Ca ptain Benjamin Page. was hi red tocom mand Ih e vessel Page had only rccc ntlv re tu rne dfrom a pionee ring voyage to Au str alia an d China.which wer e to he he r des tin ations on th e cu rre nt

e x pedtuon.w O f COUfSC. since not a n i}' the market h UI

also the .....eather and the seas in th J t pa rt of the .....o rld....-erc at best ve ry im perfectly kno.....n, the voyage w as

someth ing of a ga mble. Appa n-n tly M cgee cou nted onthe salahil ity of rum at the Botan y Bay pr ison colony,lor spi rits co ns t ituted a mnior pert of the cargo. Inim ple menting th is calcula tion, Megee probahlv guar­anteed the success o f the voya,i:e .11

Th e Halcyon arr ived at Por t Jack son (Sydney) un

June 14, 1794, almost exac tly lour m ont h s alterw eigh tng an chor in provi dence Fin din g four othervessels already anchored in the hay, Page and M egee

fea red th a t the market wou ld he glutted. But M cgee 'sluck held; the sh ips in the ha rbo r .....e re sho rt of thevery provis ions the IIdlcyoll was ca rry ing. Megeepromptly sold OU I, In ad dincn, he di sposed of some

6 Megee's na me appears on documents for the Bm....nsdur in,i: the period. 5il:nin~ for the runelrals of the tumwas a common duty of apprentices. See the ma ririmeprotest [wrtnesscd h)' Me~e c: l dated [une 10, 171'l2, on alanse page in Samuel Chace's Hook of Coo per t'a j-ershat h at The Rhode lsland Historical Society. Mcgeehimself noted 10 h IShankruptcv petition that he hadbeen "regularly bmught up as a merchant Ill. .Pro....·deuce," but he failed to mention the na me of the fumI'enuons to the Ccneral Assemhly, "'01. 37, 120; RhodeIsland SLlIe Archives, Slate Hou se, Providence.

7 Ward's jour nal of th is voyage IS in the ward I'ol rers atThe Rhode Island Historical Society. Mcgee's log of thesame cruise IS 10 the Brown & Ives Papers.

'~.lnC\· C, \ r- I' >rr l<lck Oil <l\ II <l rJ,eareJ 10 ,m artl" .II X

Ic.. r, ne" tc .\Ic,l:ee 's Halcyon <iun'cd ",lIh a r ro/ llable<dlgO' , '/'HH\. nd o lher /,H)"l\lOIlI

P,.mn f 1J r, m d ~ rch"y f Ihm'c, r' d I»' J \'O<~ dlI) r. n, u", , , \ , I /.J"'~')' >In .... S \\ A,,,,, ,or

.:i,0fX) gall on s of spi rit s .u an "ad van ced price " tothe colo ny 's office rs, who runnopolized the localliq uo r t r.nlc.

Durin.s; hi s stay a t Botany Bay, M egee see ms to havetake n th e oppo nu nuv a ffordc d by th e quick sale ofhis cargo to do some si~h l -seeing . and reportedly wa sgrea tly impressed with the co lony's prospec ts 11 The

colon ists were qui te anothe r matter , for M cgee was

beat en and rob bed by convic ts during one 01 his str oll sabou t Sydne y. II Thus, when th e Halcyon's o ffice rsdiscover ed J sto waway en route to C anto n , they cou ldno t hav e been ovcrlv sympathetic. T he com m anderof another ve ssel rep oned thur they in tended landing

!l l'ollv swectlnl: .\kl:ec w.n the srster of Ann . wde 01Ca pta in Bcruamm Page. later ,\k gee's husJlle~~ associa te .

9 .... t cgcc'v [UI:oi the second vo v.age is in the Bro.....n &. tvesPapers.

10 Pa~e h ad bu ill the vessel hUI seems to have relinquishedtitle h,jo!c she sailed AI th at trm e the u ..... ncrs wereMcgcc.Tuhn Innis Clark and Joseph Ni~htingal e . Theinforrnanun un the vov .rge uf the 1I<l lcyol1 is takenIa!gely iro m Th omas Du nbahm , "Rhode Island andEarl y Auvn aha," a typed M.S. a t Th e Rhode IslandHistr mcal SocreevdJ.tcd October W , 1948.

11 David Collins. Judge Advocate General at Sydney . inexplammg a b!~e pur chase 01 srHi ts h om Page on hisII rSI vovage 10 Auslfaha noted the fondness expressedhy these people [the con vtctv' io r even thi s perniciousAmerican spirit was mcredrble , th ey hesuarcd not to go

him at anothe r British colony . M egee arrived homewith a China ca rgo on April 29 , 1795, fou rtee nmonths afte r he had left.

The vovagc of th e Halcyon appa rently stre ng the ne dxtegee's co n fide nc e in his huslness abili ty andencouraged hi m to use h is im agi n a tio n in hi s com­mcrcia l activines. Thu s, within .l yea r of his return ,

he again embarke d for Chm a with a complex pla n lo ranother unusual voyage. He sa iled in February 1796,as superca rgo and part own er of the fam ou s shi p

Gran d T urk, I ~ Capta in Bern ard Megee [no rela t ion).In all, the vessel ha d seven owne rs livin~ bo th inProv idence and Bcston.O The Providence venturers

10 any lengl hs 10 procure II . .md prctcned rceci\'mgSPITlIS furlabou r to cverv urher aruclc o f provsvrons orclot hing rhat could be utte red to the m. Dunbahin, 6.

J2 IblJ , 7,u ibut . 7-11 ,14 The (; r<l/I<1 Turk was sold b}' her builder. E1IJ.s Haskct

Derby of Salem . by March 1795 Rober t E, l'cahod y,author o f Thc Log of tllC (;1'10.1 TUlk\ [BostonHough ton , Miiflm Co , 1926) 1"2, conjectures th.lI hername mus t have been alte red when she changed hands .smcc the New York papcr~ 01 the nme do nOI list as.nhng dale tor her thereafter. This IS unqucsncnablythe same ship , howe ver

I:; The large num ber of owners may be an mdrcation ofthe nsk and fOr expen se invol ved.

101 MERCHANT AS GAM ilLER

scm along a second vessel, the small bu t speedy snow

Susan . ....-hich was able 10 ma ke two or th ree voy agesto the Gwnd T urk's one For th ree-fifths of the

commission . Mcgee als o agreed 10 help a you ng fr iendconduct the business oi rhc Newport ship Russell.once she had arrived in China . Finally , M cgee hatchedtWOother ventures while at Canton , one of whichfailed and th e other, while appa ter ulv successful,landed him in court.

The Captain of th e SII ~an . 129 IOns, ....-as Will iam

Tronc r, who had been first mate aboa rd the Halq ·on .and who was as inuepid and clever a man as M egeehimself. At Canton , i\\egec loaded the Susan forthe hie of France lfo.h u rit ius! and dispatched her m orethan tWO months ahead of the Gr<1nd Turk. It is ne t

entirely clear where thc SIHan spent th e ne xt fewmonths, but by th e following September she was inthe Pacific gathe ring furs-as dangerous a trade asthe times uttered. Howeve r M cgee was still very lucky ,

and the SIl ~<1n dropped anch or .11 M acao again onNovember 3, 1797, less than J year .liter she ha d leftthat anchorage . Trolle r landed some l -UXl sk ins an dput to SCJ again two months late r, ma k ing a very

vpccdv passage. He had amvcd in Providence by .\1.1)'of 1798 with ano the r China cargo, very proba bly

ma king a killing for Mcgcc.!"

But the SU.I11 Il·.~ cruise was only a sm all pa n ofMegee's plan like many Yankees of his era, Mcgeehad tcw com pu nctions abo ut taking ad vantage of th edlsnrrbancc s ucc as toucd hy the war in Europe. N O!

only did he ap parcn tlv in tend to bu y prize goods a tMau ritius. hut w'hilc the Grand Turk rode at ancho rat w h umpoa . ,1I,'egl'l' made a sec ret agr eem ent w ithRodolf [acohus Dozy, a me mbe r of the Dutch EastInJia Cc rnpanv's urganiz nuon at C anton . whatevertheir spc cihc plan s, till' tw o de:Hly envis io ned someevasion of th e IIrit ish m ar itime ru les on trad ing with

Europe and Eurnpc's colonies. T he dc.rl fe ll throughwhe n Do::y was ordered home la te in 1797 .17

16 Mcgee's Account Book a nd g odolt Iacobus Dozy.Canton, to Me~ec Providence November 6, 1797. andIJnuary 9, I 79/l, Me/:ee Parers, Sec also "Th e Log of theSus.m trom Canton lO....ard Providence , January 15,1 797.10 Ma)' 16. 1797" The Rhode Island HIstorical Societyand Ship R<"g;'ll.'h and Emollmf'nb of Providence.RhoJ~ ls l<1nJ. I 77J · 19J9. Providence : Na tiona l Archi\'csI'roj<"(I , 194 1, vol. I, =32&3.Trotter was an interesting person. Although horn inEngland , he served as boatswain aboa rd Samuel Shaw'sfamous l\l..~ch IlSf l ts on her voyage 10Canton in 1789.He had rcmamed aboa rd the shit' after it was sold toth e IJanish Easl India Comrany late in 1790 His late r

A .H UlI\' I\'<l' II "Fl<l f" 1I:;.'.,l(",j vessel tltf/<'IIIJ:< from alJrix, ," 11' III Ihl v1II){ <l r1\ .,,111 m,I' I c/o,r ,11,,/11 111" 11Im/Wl llS t .AIe):l.'C·' small ' I'""dy ' 1I0WSusan \\,,/\ "lll ll m Nonhl'f ' l\ /th'll< " 11/ ITY.1.

i\1egcc also w as involved in the vovage of the shipRUHdl. belonging to Gibbs & Channing . [amilvfriends and mcrchantv 01 Ne w port , xtcgcc was joi nt

age nt , together with roum: Gem!:e Gibbs. lr., ....-hosJileJ as supercargo o f the R lh~ l' 1/ for Canton Mcgee

ap purcnrlv was to direct voung Gihbs in con ducungthe ship's busi ness in China Th~ commission was 5°0on the price of the homeward cargo. Megee was to

xe t 3% and Gibhs 2"0, bu t Mcgee docs not seem tohave hcen present at Canton whe n the Russet!ar rtved."

Fin ally, wh ile in China, i\1eJ:ee gur into diffic ulty

when he purchased .t c.i rgu ot sealskins hom Ebeneze rDo rr, oi the Boston ship Oller. Do n ha d taken the

fu rs ahon rd nt Am sterd am Islan d, where they had beenco llec ted hy Dill' Peter Per on Dun's t itle to th e ski nswas not clear, and the matter wen t to the co u rts inrhc Unite d St:ltes. As late ,IS 17\N , Me!:ee was Ilhligedto file:) depnsitmn nn till' ;Jffair ,1 9

hfe IS lull of adventure, hut vcrv early in the nineteenthcentury he sculcd III Bradtord . vermont. with a com­torrahlc tonune. There he became a prominent cinze-n.selectman. conon manutacturcr. drvnllcr JnJ phtlan­throrht ( SI I J ~ Mckeen . A III, wr.\· ut Bt<Jd 'orJ. Vermont(Mon1r d ier, vr., IS7{,), 1'}-I·2(kl

17 Dozv to .\\c/:-ce. November (,. 1797, and lanuarv 9, 179H..\kl(l'e Papcts.

If! Instructions from Ctbbs ~ Channing Newport. toWilliam F ~\eJ<:ee GcnrJ;:e Gibhs II- and Wilham Woodlr. (1 7%1. See also ,\ 1e.l:ee'<;, leiter oi Introduction tolames Chalmers. Can ton . for Ctbbs and Wood . No­vembe r 10. 17%. .md to Crbbs & Channing. December

So it was rh.u upon his arnval home in l 79R,20

Megee co uld loo k back on 22 months 01very com pli­cated business. It h ad, in tact. been a series o f ve n tu resra th er than a ,in!;le cntcrjm-,c, mcludmg tWO rather

nrthudox Chi n,l vuva gcs and three gamble r's ve n tures.tWO of which prohahlv in volv ed evadi ng Britishblockades The third ended in li t igation . Obv ious ly,these were not the act ion s o f a ca utious man . TheSu'dn·... c ruises we re the only parr o f his tortuous

de ali ngs which clearly paid handsomely. So long ashis luck lasted, Megee would he abe to cover h is lossesand still cut a ugurc as a leader 01 Providence's new

commercial e lite Bu r the lAW oi ave rages wasagai nst h im

Mcgee soo n devel oped a new sch eme for fishing inwaters troubl ed hy war. Dunug th e summe r of 1798,he outfi tte d the new sh ip P,l1myUJ at Prov iden ce.She was the mint pro perty (If Mcgee and foh n Innis

Clar k. Joseph Ni gh ti ng.1 le 's partner and a fin ancialhacke r of Megee so long as he lived. Aftcr 3 maidenvovage to H am bur g, durmg which she suffe red majordamjges in J bad storm, the Palm}'lJ went to Buen os

Aires w ith a cargo designed for thar market , Herca pt ain wa s the same W illiam Trotter ..... ho h ad don eso n ohl y for Megee and Clark in the S USlIll.

In Buenos Aires the ship W ,I S sold to Pedro Duval , awcnlrhv mer chant of that cttv, and dispatched to" frie nd ly fo reign ports: ': l T hi s sa le see ms to hav e

been an art iiic e to assur e the vessel a favor able rcccp­lio n upon her re turn to Buen os Aires , wh ose venal

officials were notorious both for accepting bribes andfor sc i ::i n~ foreig n vessels. In deed, at least one ca rgo of

'Ironer 's was seized, J pp :ltently. T he tot a l amountedtll ap p ro ximarclv $ RO,OOO of which on e- th ird or

$20,66(, (,(, was Me~ee ' sn Tr oucr was st ill peut iuning

the govcmrncm tor redress in 111.07, when M cgee

needed rb c mnnev badly.

Of enur-e, illegal voyages and paper devices lo robscu nng a vessel's t rue o ..... nc rshl p do not m ake a

I ll, 179<>, Col, Gcolge Glhhs I'jrcrs, N e wp ore Histo rica lSuc rety.

II) ."'k~ee Paper~

20 The Grand Tu rk wa, dri'·cn ashore jl PUtlland , Maine.nn ) anu'HY~. INII.

11 Charh.'s lvon Chandler. "The River Plale Voyages.17%· INJO:' AmerJC<1fl H"t"ncol Renew. vol, 2.3, ~(Iulv WIllI, sll.lI!~

!! See ~1e"ee 's Account Book and the uOI;umenls inSralllsh on the suhiect III the Carrin,£;tonPapersFor a classic CllJmrle of the uncertainties a shlr bced,see T_L Halsc\' ]r., Buenos Avrts. to Bro..... n N I\'('s and

hu~iness ventu re very easy to trace, especia lly a ttc r at ime lapse of a ccn tutv and a hall. Th us. rhc whe re­abours of the l't1lmpa over the ncxt few ye Jrs arc not

,ll wa~'s cle ar She app ear ed at Rill de lancirn in 111.00under her ne w name , J\,'I/(',\ I r,) \('Ilf)fi! <1(' IId en . In

l. mua rv and Fehruary o f ISOI, she W,ls again in theRio d e l.r 1'1,lta , Sho rt ly th ereafter she rcrumcd roProviden ce only role.avc for li verpool vcrv sp...edi ly.Uy rh ... following N ovember she appcars 10 have

chan~ed captains, and in Fehru ary 11\02 she w as backat Rio de Janeiro. T h is t ime, howeve r, she ..... as theproperty li t Cla rk alonc.v r n'cisely what "he had bee n

doing an d w he rhc r she ha d ma de Mcgee a profit is amystery . It see ms evide nt, hnw ever, tha t ..he h ad beenen~ag i ng in dangerous business.

Mcgee hlm scl! vcrnurcd into peri lous water oncea,l:a in in 1799 , when he set <l UI as su percargo and parr

ow ne r of the "hip RnollTn-. with Captain Narh amelPearce. Agai n, rhe numher o f ow ners m ay he somein d ica tion of the dan ger a" well as (If th e expe nse oithc voyage ludgin~ from the heavy arm am ent , M egeeexpected trouble. T he shi p moun ted 16 iron six­

pounders. ca rried:;2 m en and was otherw ise for ­

m id ably acc onre rcd. At this ti me, th e United Stat es Wd Scugugcd in th e un decla red mnntirn c war with France,and the !\ ('\ fl lllt' C was granted 'I k ite r nf marque.

How ev er if she met any Fren ch ~h ips on the trip nut,she made sho n wo rk o f th em , for th e shi p to uch edal Sydney Septembe r 6, only lour month ... aite r leaving

l'r ovld cn ce. She was in w ham poa Reach Nove mberHI and reappear ed in Providence in the laSI week ofluly I ~(XF~ Once a~ain xtczcc h ad ventured into

war-r idden areas. this time as a n ational o f one of th eco nten ding powers, an d once a,l:ai n he h ad co mehome wit h a profit.

No sooner had he sct foot Oil shore than M cgeebegun to plan an othe r risky vnv.igc, h ut hi~ luck was

he,l: inni n,l: til eh h In Feb ruarv HUH, he dh,patchl' d th eJI,lz<lT,l. und er Captain lames Ro....'an, on an exte nded

John Corhc.Providence. October 1(" IStl), lIfown & he"1'.1refs,

1.\ F" r IIlf"llllal l"ll O il th e l'<lllllylil sec "l,,~ "f Ih e , hi pI'a lm .\'r ll jr"m Providen ce tow,n d Hamhurl:, O n 14,1NX." "l"l: of the shi p l'a rt<'t" )fIhouml fm m Stad cirJin Oct. "i IIIO:J." "lol: of thl' ship P'llmyrd, " I \'fIlvidcnceIn the Rin- r "f I'late in [aolla ry and FehrUJry 01 IWI "all al The RhoJe Island Hlstllflcal Soclel\,. T. L U;"l lseyIr., BuenO"! Ayres, to Browo b.. lyes ~ lohn Cmlis,January !~, IWI, Brown &. lvc:s Papers. and Charles b'onCh.llldler. "ll"t of Unlled Stares Veso;els in Bra:il, 1792 ­180:'>, Ind uslve," Hllpamc Am<'1icun Hi~lOrical Re\';ew,\' 01. 26lNon mber 1941>1. (,\.1.

104 Mf.Il CIlA NT AS GAM ll l ~R

B}' 1'''iH !HJm \.Vllilnrl'''<1 Rt'<1dl m('fchil/Jl~ opp rnache. iC<l/J!Of! ,m.! rill' 110n:':1 or wore/lOu<t" where thry couldnmduCI rhl'ir rr,ldw,lt. The 1l<",g~, wull lhl'II,I.>:' lhLlI1l1erllOl(,,1 lh,' Hild,'" ,·oUlIlrll'l. be...nne <I fill'orile sul>j/"Cl

tor ChllH'W <lIl/.'I,\ who (ollml "'!'<feHl merchant, ei11.erf"l ()/II' IIr.I/_am", Th/,~" II,m ,lt" r um:h /""v/, _,hllwin,lt illrile ('<'11I<'1 il vn-w we/I known r" },...Iegcc . L\ 011 llJim toIlllUI Browll 1/0u,le [nrm MI NllImiln J/erre,\hotl.

uJJin.i: cruise tll the N orthwest COJst , the west

COJs t of South Amcnca and rhc Islands of the Pacific.In this venture, Mcgee WJS joined by two otherProvidence mer chants. hi s former hr orher-in -law

Benjamin P.I.i:e and [nhn Corl!s.Over th e next several vcur s, th e Hilzard lived up to

her name , In the curgo wa s J large quantity ofmuskets, an item which was hound to aro use suspicion

in Latin America . In Pcbruarv ISm, while thc Hozardwas anchored in tbc ha rbor of Valparaiso, DonAntnnio Frun ciscu Gr,l eiJ Carrasco. Acting Governor,

heard of the musket s and demanded thcy be sur­rendered . Rowan refused , w-hc rcupon Don Antoniosl'i::ed cvc rv Amc ric un wh o harpened to he ashore , Jspitdul act ion wh ich gained him nothing. He ulti -

H Th e WUU:l'Sof lhl s v cj-agc are. M egee to lam es &. T. H ,rerkms, MJ"'~ , P IN, Me..:cc's Account Book ; '\\e~ee 10john Lippett , M ay 17, IlI02,Mc~ee r apers ; Sullivan Dorr10 loseph &. lohn Dor r. November 21, 1799, m HowardComing. ed , "Letters of Sullivan Don ," "'JSSJch uscltsHlsIUllcJI Stxlelv,l'lOcuJm~.\. vol 67t I9·H -Ul, 193,and th e.' I'rn\',Jt"ncl' Ga;:elle, AU)l:uSI 2, 18ClJ. Incrd en ­tallv. th e voung Chinese M cgee brou,lthl home with himproved enou..:h ot J CUTlOS]!)' 10war rant hall a colu mnoi I~' pe In the ne wspaper.

rnatel y won hi~ point wh en h e managed to sneak J

co nside rable number o f m en aboard the H<Jzm d by asubrcrtugc. There, thev reportedly behaved in a most

ruffianlv b sh iun , not only confiscating the weapons,hut also plundering the sh ip, killin.i: one of the crew,and manhandling the others. Rowan WJS thrown into

prison . Although he Liter extricated himself somehow,the owners' loss was suhstantiap'i From Can to n ,where rhc ship appeared later in the year, SullivanDon reported to his brothers in Boston that Rowan

had lost $20.o0() in the inciuent.26

The //(l:.ard saile d again for th e Northwest Coastand Califn ruia on February 6, 180.3, in com pany with

th e A /er r. Capt. John Ehhius, of Boston . Rowan madetw o trips be twee n Canton JnJ th e Pacifi c Northwest

F> I'H,habl.,.. the best J.\'J.il.1hlc dcsc upnon of th is affair is inRicha rd I. Ele veland, A NU1I<Ifl l'{' 01 Voyu_~s andCom/lwlcl<ll Ell le ll' ll ' ''' [Carnhndge, 1 8~) , 1 6..~ -)74 ,

26 DOH to loseph, lohn &. Andre w C. Don, Novemb er 17,lllOl, Coming. 3JJ.

27 '\l eRee held a part interest. with lohn Corlis, in thisvessel.

2l'1 The ShIp Re)l:l~ lel\ of /''''\'I,knce .. h~IS the fol-low in.':cu lt m h l ~ name at I h31 time the bng loho and

105 .'.{ERCHA:'IIT A~ GA .\,f11EIl

before he finally sailed for home in th e spring of!lillS. Presumably th e opera t ions of the Hazard at least

recouped th e losse s at v alparaiso, but this venture,th e seizure' oi th e Palmyra'~ cargo and the loss of hisship John and C1J<l rle~. 14M tons, in Ap rillROI ,l1

indicated that .\ 1cgee's luck was no longer so spec­ta cular as it had hccn in the previous decade. More­over , by the time the Haza rd arrived home, M cgee was

in deep trouble.Although we do n ot know ho w rich Mcgee became,

he enjoyed great sucess ove r a substant ia l per iod oftime when many othe r Americans won fortunes in

precisely the trades in which he engaged. M egee was.II least part owner in six vessels in 1 801 . 2~ For sometime he had been acqui ring land in North Providence

where he established his country seat , app rop riatelynamed " Ca n to n Retreat Farm. " He al so pu rchased

real estate in Providen ce itself, where he kept histown house, a home for his mother and other build­mgs . He also seems to have financed the building oi

pan of the American Factory at Canton. Earlie r, hehad bough t a one-third in terest in this complex ofseve ral hangs from Samuel Snow, United States Consulfor Ca mo n.w

Megee certainly behaved like a rich man . likeother successful merchants of his day, he confi rmedhis social position Ily leade rship in the local militiacompany . He was a captain in the ProvidenceIndependent light Dragoons in M ay ISm and fro m

J\tay I~ to 1.'10,11 he wa s J maier in this orgJniza­

tion..1O Hence hi s title. Another indication oj hiswealth may be hi s indulgence in luxuries. One of themore exotic was an avia ry , which he shipped home

from China in January IHOO. T he invoice included:I cage s; 50 birdsI pr Silver s: Gol d Peasants s, Cage

.1 pr Mand ar in o Du ck s &. Cages1 pr fowls &. I pr W hite M an da rin D ucksI pr Large Ducks1 pr partridges &. I pr Wild Pigeons

&. Canton Fcasans.I S well as " Half of -\ Ewes &. one Ram in Com pan y

Ch <l1les (;::" llll l!, and rhe ships Hazard (1:- I·H91, Palmyra(1:- 26091,Susan (1:- ,U Ill), Perm 1= 261'01. and Resou rce(::290 0.

29 Snow, Providence, to Dorr , Canton , May 10, IR02,quoted In Vincent 1'. C'lfO~SO and la wrence fl . Leder,"The Samuel Snuw-s-Sullivan DOff Correspondence,"Rhode 1-\I<1nd Hi.\lory, vo l. IS, no. 3 truly 19561,R2.For further material on Snow sec my article, "A StudyIn Failure, Hon. Samuel Snow: ' Rhode 1I1un<l History,vol . 25, no . I [Ianuarv 19M!, 1·8.

China s ml/uenee lin rllt· ',ilion ....ho nwnnl'd Ihl' .Ilips 0'Rho<le hlund ffll'1chanl l " r,.f lecl ed In tfus .11' 1",1 from a,k"'ch In the l809 accounr book o f secmcns wa,l:es on the,111[' Bal tic's Cunl"l1 \ Uf";:" The {" )lUIlC IJlfd p<:FLltedon Ih ewdo'-s queue reCiJ lh ,\ 1",1:"1'" sh,p bllme <II nrtv

</ cfl/~/~,~ /~~ 4

fi(~ /~

with .\ 1r. John Co rhss . and one large China Sow "(spel ling in or iginall.:11

Ap parent ly, when Megee bou ght his sh are of the

Canton factory from Samuel Snow, the two me rchan tsag ree d to spell c.tch other a t Can ton in m anaging the

hongs)! As he had promised, Mcgee again sa iled for

Canton M ay JR, I R02, on the Resource. ho ping tomeet the long-absent Hera rd in China la te r in theyear. He sailed as captain, supercargo and so le owner.Assisting him .....as young Edward Ca rrington , who....·.IS later to become the premier merchant of Rhode

Island. Mcgee planned 10 remain in China for tWOyea rs, or at least so he informed l . & T. H Perkins of

Boston ..l.l Mcgee commissioned Carr ington ro transact

a ll his business in Canton and to manage his sha reof the American fJ.ctory.~ M egee's experience, adviceand patron age were unquestion ably very valuableassets to the you ng m an an d must h ave been a

co nside rable fac to r in his early success,Per ha ps just if iably, M egee was I:aining a na me in

some circles for sharp tradi ng . Indeed, muc b,of his

fo rtu ne had. been won as a result of sm u~li ng and a\ 'C"lY close calculation of opportunities opened bythe .....ar's dis ruption of normal trade patterns. In this

.~ loscph H. Smith , Cwl1 and Alil ,l "rv Lj.1 1o j Rhode Island[Pro vidence. 1900 1, vol . 2, .t5,61 , 75, RR, JIll, I L~ and 126.

.11 Mcgee's Account Book, 1797· 1800 .,U Mcgee to Snow, December 18, lKOO, Megee Parers.J.1 Pchruarv J, 1802, Mcgee Papers.,q Although nut yet firmly csenbhshed , Camngtou was a

reliable and grftcd busmcwman who alreadv enjoyedrhe conndcnce of severalother leading Prov idencemerchants IIlcludlllg Snow, Samuel Butler , Seth

-

106 MlRCIiANT A~ GAMIUUl

regard he was no different fro m many other Ne wEngland me rchants oj his era, bur M egee seems to

have taken more chances than most. One pe rson whotook 3 pantcularlv jaundiced view of M egee was

Sullivan Dorr, then resident at Canton, Although Donwas a competitor in the ve ry chancy ginseng tr ade

and could not he expected to approve wholeheartedlyof Megee , he knew him well. Dorr had noted ea rlie r inJ lener to his brothers that he was obliged to becivil to Megee , JS " It can't be hclpr, money gives atace. when modesty and merit is pushed out ofdoors.' t, \Vhile he conceded MCRee's ability, Don

viewed him with disapproval. an opinion others wouldsoon share and not without reason.

Megee landed his tea in Providence on July 13,I~m. Although it seems doubtful that this voyagewas \"CT)' profitable, ~tegee was still a wealthy man.Fifteen days after his arrival home, he purchasedthree \eso;,els In addition , he still rem ained owner or

part o ....-ner 01 at least three othe rsll> and possessed realcstare both in America and China.

For the next two years, MCRee remain ed at homecontinuing his pu rsuit of imaginative, if r isky co m­

merce, H is tude was on a IJrge r scale th an ever before,and it became increasingly complicated. The Resourceseems to have r-nponcd rhe bu lk o f the Oriem algoods which were the basis of his tr ade in the Westernworld. She plied be twee n Provide nce and the East,

cspcciallvm Canton and Batavia. In the Atlanti c,

working the sea routes to Europe, th e w es t Indies andthe islands of the Easte rn Atla n tic. we re th e Abby 0)

.~ ,J/ /y , the /ndt/luy. the Little 'miles and occasion ally acharte red vesse l or two, Finally, M cgee had an interes t

in the Hil;:',I"I, which was still cru ising in th e Pacific.Although he place d hC;I \'y rel ia nce on h is captains

and su pcrcu rgucs, .\1egn' de alt through agents in othercities wheneve r pussfhlc . Th ree of the m ost importantof these age nts were Wil s &. Co m pany, Amsterdam,

J &. T. H Perkins in Bosto n an d Ed.....ard Carr ingto nur Ca nton, It was an expansive system, well conceiv ed

Wheaton and bctuarrun HIlPPIll Thus It is nor su r­PIl~lIlg Ihat Mc~cc took advan tage of Camngnm'sJ ..' r..' rrrun.mon ttl MJ\" m China

1"1 Don lU lu....-ph ~ lohn Dun , Boston, November I , 1799,Connne. Iii;!. ~e.ul\" three vcars [ater , Dor r wrote hishnnher th;ll he uucnded 10 make the Chinese mercha nt,\ \\ ' ''''<J ua a .... ,tne~~ tn an,· ginM'nR sale he made, thusrUlImR tlllt lu ll ;l11"',"es power 10 say I render false

acco um , a, h .L_ ""'en s.ud of Maj(ee of whom shall s.1ymme ...-hc n I ....-c von ' n un courmued admonishing hiskmsmen , ' IlhuuJo:hl vou knew enough ul MaJl:ee!O

M,',,("t"~ cuuc. SuJIn·,m no n. wcs. (Iccordmy, to ther ro~ i dcnce Daily Post flf March 4.1858, "., , di.~lingui5hedfor his/alge bU"lne,~,~ c(lpacity and hip! integrlly ofcharll(tet. AI/ the tramtlclion.\ of his lIfe were marked bypUllctuallly, systt'"m /lnd honor ... "

fro", d po'[fdil "" Chd'l.... lIJ"nl £Ilion. CO..1I .... )' of me'.uv,dellce Wd,h,n"un IIUU'4DU Comrdny.

an d pr oba bly as diversified as the times an d trad eallowed Ho weve r ftllci~n co m me rce was as dangero us

as it was profitable, especia lly wh en a merchant wo kchances lik e M cgee,

Also, the Chi na trad e proba bly wok m ore capi talthan an y othe r co m merce of th e t im es, Like many

ot he r China me rchants in th e youn g, capita l-shyUnited Stales, M cgee WJS co m pelled to burrow large

sums of m on ey oft en at hi gh rates of inter est to fl ­nancc hi s vo yages 10 the Fat East. He wa s frequentlyuna hie to pay th ese deb ts until h is Ch ina cargoes

arrived and were sold. Th us, M egee wa s gam bling forvcrv lar ge stakes, It is not su rp rising th at h e eve n-

gsve prope l wci~hl tll such a Stun' as his having wmrenthe Merchants here much Gill'>elll: might be expected'lIuly 28, IH01,Coming, ,l If>-.l I71 , Evidently Mcgee hadoutmaneuvered Dorr bv means the latter regardedas unetbical.

36 The Abby 6) StIlly, I 'H IOn\, the Silvie, 81 tons, andrhe bril: InJu'!I}', 14 / Ions. HL$ other ships were largerbUIon l~' the Re"'I/ICt" exceeded 400 tons.

.37 The ,l;ross rl..ceeds on the SuperIOr' s cargo. invoiced atP ./,1."I5../71\\' lh ~ Co 10 Megee, October 6. I&Hl wereS'lO,H'i'}, l.3lW Ll s e, Co, to ,\1egec, tanuarv I .~ , 11lC»!-

107 ~HRCH"'NT AS GAMIlLER

tually failed; in deed, il is rem ark able that he was so

successfu l for so long.

Within a few mon ths after he ret u rned fro m Chi na.Megee undertook the largest speculation of his entire

career. r'ossiblv the western world's la rgest concen­

tration of consumers ot China goods I.1Y in Europe,and the principal enrrepct for this great market wasAmsterdam. Megee's agents there, Wils &. Company,had encouraged him to send teas for sale at the DutchEast India Compa ny's auctions and for reex porta tion

to various Nonh Sea ports, espec ially Em de n. Betwee nAu~ust IHOJ an d January 1804 , M egee sent five shipsto Amste rda m or Emd en wh olly or part ially lad en

with goo ds consigned 10 W ils &. Co m pa n y. Had thi sspecu lat ion been successful, M egee would probablyh ave bec ome one of America 's lending merchants. But

Fortune was now again st h im .

T he fi rst two vessels to ar r ive were th e charte redhrig Superior and the AlJI,y et Sally. whose com bined

cargo W.1Sin voiced at S 147,1 83 .9(,. The Supe rior wa slost on the re turn tr ip and the Ahby oj) Sally ra naground hr iefly a t Calais, damagjng her ca rgo. M ore

importamly. All Hve of M egee 's ships a rrived to abad market. Tea prices were low and l ittle was avai l­able for a return cargo. Possibly one of the develop­mcnts which hurt M cgee was the temporal')' peacebetween the ...·arring po wers of Eu rope. The Peace ofAm iens lasted h om Ma rch 27, 1802 , to MAy 16, 18U3,a pe riod during wh ich norma l trade was par t tallv

resumed, thus putting more goods in the Europe anm arket than Megee had an ticipa ted hack in Chi na,wh en he h ad left instructi on s with Ca rrington.

A confusing factor is the ch arge of a Megee captain ,one T hom as Hold en of the Ahhy l.'!l Sa/ly, who wa sconvi nce d th at his employe r h ad been badly de ­

frauded hy Wils &. Co m pan y. "Ams te rdam," saidHold en , "don' t pro duce a m ore co m plet ely finishedset of villains than W ils &. Co," Accor di ng to hisbank ru ptcy pet it io n, Mcgee never really knew exac tly

how he had lost his once imp osing Ion uoe."

The shIps' expenses ....ould more than cmcel rhe pro fit,and the interest on borro....ed money would rake a bigbnc "I the prmcipal. The Abby 0 1slll/r's cargo W3Smvoiced at S"'! 9!/!,-I9Imvoice dated AU,fUSI 15, 11'031.It ....nuld seem that xtcsee ....as rUnOlnji; verv dose 10 theedge, smce bv lanuatv !ll()$. charges amounting toS17(, (0) had accumulated a,i:ainst t he vhipmenes on the\ureuOl. the Ah1>yt'J' Sullr and the lnJW;lry (Wits &.Co, 10 Mcnee. Ianuarv U, IlIO-l). Me,i:cc's comment inhr, hankeuptcv pennon ....as nnncomrnittnl "he suf­feted an immense loss in a shrpment of proreHy toAmste rdam which nusfonunc .... as the consequence of

Wha tever the occasion for his losses, M egee see msto hav'c ru n OUI of luck Faced bv a huge defic it, he

gambled once more In the fall of IR05 he pU110 seain the Resource. wit h Amos Th roop Icnckcs." sure r­

C.1fIo':O, hound for Baltimore, Lishon and Canton. O nthis voyage, M egee 's good faith alo':Ain was impugned,

thiv time by po...·erful me rchants and ex-friends. His

creditors, w ho included I. &. T. H Perkin s, Brown &.

lves and Samuel Nightingale lr., were led to believethat he would sail fro m Portugal to China and ret urn

with a rich ca rgo to pay his eno rmous debts. Instead ,M cgee alte red hi s course for Senegal, wher e h e took

on a CMIo':(} of slaws for Sou th America It should bereme m bered tha t the in tern at ion al slave trade would

become ill egal for Ameri cans on January 1, 1808.Thu s, Mcgee 's voyag e appcars to have been a desperateattempt 10 cash in on the fin al m om en ts of th at

bruta l and inc reasi ngly di srcp ura hle co m me rce. M egeealso probahlv hoped to ge l some act ion on the long­delayed claim agains t the Buenos Aires go vern me ntfor rhe goo ds le i! by Captain T rotte r yea rs before.

M egec defended himself in his hmk rup rcv petition,

in which he staled that "owing 10 a fall in the priceof gnods he carried to Europe, he was unable 10proceed eo the original place of destinarion and sai led

wirh .1 cargo for the River of Plale." It is interestingth a t the trip to Aftic3 and the composit ion of thecargo wen t unmen tioned.e' Another rem arkabl e cir­cumstance indicating that this was no ordinary vo yage

is the l iming 01 a series 01 real es rarc t ransfers an drheir regis lry. Megee sailed for th is fateful jou rneysometime aroun d the end of Oc tober, 1805. Before

leaving, he sold or h ypothe cat ed vrirjually all of hi srem ain ing teal property, m ostly to good frie nds or

relat ives. How ev er , non e of th ese co nveyances wasrecorded before November I], by wh ich tim e Megeewa s safely out of reech of the shc riff-" Had they

learned of th e transfer s in time, hi s other cre dito rsm igh t have become suspicio us an d at tached h is shi pan d cargo. By mid-Nove mbe r, ho...'eve r, they h ad no

il sudden i311 in the markers, or the unfarthtulness ofhu constgnees and correspondents "

.\ll lcnckes a half-owner of the ~hlr, went bankrupt at thesame lime as ;\1e,i:ee. There ....as also 3 family connection[Ienckes' brother was marricd to M rs Mcgee's sister].

,\II For a hnef account of Ihl s voy3RC see Earl C. Tanner,"A Ouesuon .1S to Buenos A)'res:' RhnJI' rdand History,\'01. 24, no. .J [Iulv 196:;),119-91

-10 See Providence Deed Book :: .\1, 1011 and 109 (ProvidenceCnv Hall) and North Providence Deed Book =.J,.J:>-l and,l~"'ll'awtuekel Citv Hall). After SIKh losses as Megee

108 M EIKI I A NT A~ G A M IlLE Il.

al terna t ive nu t to hop e for a su ccessful voyage.

Thu s, the er uc rprisc wa~ con duc ted on borrowedm on ey . fur wh ich M cgee ha d pledged h is hom e and

most of hi s other proper ty. Mor eover , he h ad done sow ithout into rrr nng his creditors Possinl y they m ighthave accept ed the ~ 1 ,1\' i n,l; vov age h ad it bec n profit­able. nu t the ~uece~~ III the vovagc depe nded upon 10 0

many variables N'othinK wen t ri.l:ht , When theRc~ollrcc arr ived In South Am eri ca . Buenos Ai res , h isdes tination, was occupied hy the British under Sir

Hom e Popham , and :\\e,l;CC was not permuted 10 land,He man aged In scll "orne o f his N e.l:rO{'s at Mon te.video dunng the su mmer of 1"06, h ut he suffe red the

loss of "a Jar..:e put of h is cargo in con seq uence of

iniorma tion.. lodged a,l::ai nst hi m for br each es of th ereve nue laws II He rem ained at Mon tevideo untilM arch IW7, expe riencing m an y othe r difficultiesInc luding runawav sIJ\'es an d the sei zu re of the ship'sarms He flnallv se t sai l for hom e w ith vhaneredhllre~, arri \'im: in C har leston. South Ca rolina , som e­time in Ma y and in Prov idence shortly th erca her.

T he vovagc was ;:l di saster, and th e creditors ex­

r ectin,l; a va luable cargo oi tea we re outraged . Apresumahly disinter ested Providen ce merch ant, Ben­

iamin Hoppm . comment ed :Capr, ,\Ie,l!:t'e c ) /enckn a rrived he re a few days since

from o ff d 1011,1:: VOY<I,I!:O: to Sou th Am eri Cd with (ro use<In ol d silyin,l!:J their IlIJ,I::"H in rllcir m()!lt ll.~, A m ore

~llOdtm,:: VO}'lIXC could not K l1TCc/Y be milde, .\1cgee is

ma ll r rh o ll\ <J n ,j , III rllt: 1'<Jt' k,l!: rolltltf. ~l

Megee announced that he planned to return toCanmn to recoup his fort un es, hut his si tuatio n washopdess. H is creditors were u nduuhtc dl v less inclinedto he rnc rcifulth an rhcv migh t ha ve been, since 1807W ,I S J diffi cul t r ea r, and they believed Megee hadab use d their confide nce , SCt'i ll ,i: that bankruptcy wasinc vit.rhlc , shn rt lv af te r hb return , M cgee deeded to

his mother 'I lil e inte res t in "land an d hulldlngson the so uth side o f High Street in Provid en ce" ap ­r ;lrently m secu re her a home safe from his collapse."

With such bl eak prosp ect s for the fu ture, why didMegee wait another seven month s before filing his

had ,ul h:I~'J, hi' uc.lnurs m uvt have become uneasv .Indeed , II 1\.1 IHlll.k l uicv .... ele so quiet.Perhap s th ev....cle IcassllIed 11\ the ,lIrl \'al of the 11<1:'1.11.-1 in the ~r ring

hdnrc rh e R, '0urCC sarlcd.,H Ban kr up tcv Pl'lllloll. I'Clll lOllS to the Genc ul Assemb h',

vol v, 120, RhuJe hla nd ~IJ le A rdllve~.

,n Har rill to Cal l1ngtl\n.luly 21. IMP Ca r r lll~I011 I'.1 re rS

-1 ~ r lO\'uJcnce l )ccd 8tM,k ::1,(1, 299_

pet it ion for ban kru ptcy ! Since no firm evidencesuggests the answe r to this question , one ca n onlyoffe r an hvporhcsis. The war in Europe w as being

waged with ever-increas ing inte nsity. The Bri tishvic tory at Tr .1 fal,i;a r h ad ta ken plac e late in Octobe rIR05, an d the Fren ch now had no n avy . O n the othe r

hand, a series of Fren ch trium phs on land [Au sterl itz,Decem ber HillS, len a an d Au erstadt, October 1806,and Friedlan d, June 1807 ) h ad rem ove d all Britain 'sconnnemal allies from the contest. Each of the tWO

great an tagonists was su preme on her eleme nt butim po ten t on her enemy 's , Hence, Brita in and France

resorted to a program of maritime restr ict ion s in anatt em pt 10 destroy each other' s economy. U n for­

tunately for M egee, neutral traders were probably h urtmore th an either belhgerenr . an d the most import ant

neurral w ith a eom me ricial fleet wa s the UnitedStates. Since Britain w as m istress o f the seas and hadso recently been rhc nat ion al en emy, Am erica w asm ore sensitive to he r dep redanons than to th ose

of N apol eon.In June of IRQ7, th e Brit ish shi p Leo pard fi red upon

the American naval vessel.the Chndpeake. and tookoff several alleged desert ers fro m His Ma jesty 's Navy .

T he A meric an public w .15 fur iou s over this wan tonuutruge . and by the end o f Decem ber, Presidentleffer son h ad persua ded Congress to pa ss the Embar goAct, which ha n ned all fore ign sh ips fro m Am ericanpor ts and kept Americ an craft at hom e. All foreign

trade cease d.

Th ereafter . what could M cgee hop e for! H iscred ito rs were keepi ng close wa tch ove r hi s property

so that any sh ip he owne d would be at ta chedimm ediately upon its arr ival in an Am erican port .Moreover . th e Embargo would ke el" it inactive there­after. Eatlic r th ere mixht have been a chance tha tsom e pr opc nv co uld be sl ipped in to the co un try, but

eve n this remote 11lJssihilitr wa s n ow gone. In th erneanrimc th e intere st nn h is borrow ed capl tal wa skill ing h im , He did not eve n have a gambler's ch an ce.

Desrite hi s m isfort unes, M egee see ms 10 havemainta in ed a jaun t)' air wh ich mu st ha ve been

fWIIl 1.'101 10 IM7. ,JCctordm~ ltl rW\'IJencr Inc m~urJIlCC

r e( or .! , \\'11/ ' <1 111 ;\III,<:l:(' [SK J cduit,a m<l ll<llKe 0/1 llli<hrruvc rhen 011 Ge01,1:1' StrCl't. Burlt I>r Edw<I,,1 [h'xla"I".ut F9(" I/l(' dl\t'/lllll: I"" mOl'ed from IIJ<l1 I '(.;110/1 JIl

JBfiJ, ",hl:1I BIOI'" Unrwr'HV "C'IUl/I',I/lll' l<lud, lO HII'r",,'/lf H,'/ll ~2 \\<Ilrt1lJdll \frecl.

109 ~\lRCll ....x r A~ GA~'8llR

maddening to hi s cred ito rs. Benjamin Hoppin w roteCarri ngton on July 5, !M08:

Mn::cc hlJ~ ollt/ lincd fhc bene iit of th e insnlv ent actof Ihh .HUIl.' d) boasts of l'u}"itlJo: JII h is deb ts excep t180.000 fila/in in onginall He ern never on up againin Ihe wculd. You tnereknc mllsilook to the FaClOrie~

10 your demands againq Ilim ..u

After hi s hankruprcv Me~ee beca me involved in abitter quarrel with hi s w iic 's fam ily , p3rticulJrly hi shro rhe r-m.la w an d credito r. Sam uel Ni gh tingale Jr.M egcl"s w he reabouts for the n ext 1Mm onths a resomething of a mystery, but it is certain th3t .....he nhe h:h Providence, he left 310ne. He does no t see m

10 h ave aba n doned h is family altoget he r, h oweve r. Hesent his ..... ife gift s and funds through both EdwardCarr ington and wtll tam F. Megee Jr., who soon be­ca me a C h in a captain in h is own righ t.4 '

Early in IRIO Megee arnved in Ca nton for the las ttime. H is frien d Carrington, ha ,·j nR made a handsome

fortun e, w as prepari ng to leave th e C h inese ci ty. He

had tak en Hnppin's advice and seized Mcge e'sfact lJfi e s,4~ hut he ma y have aiJeJ Megee by Join!';so. M oreover , he seem s 10 ha ve helped his for mer

patron to he!';in business in Canton as an innkeeper .":\tegce m an aged 10 supplement the income hom h is

hotel hy ac ting occ astouallv as an auctio nee r an d ahuild in g COnU.1ClOr, Hi s hi~es t customers in all threeendeavors appc nr to have been th e British, evenduring the War o f H1I 2. He catered parriculatlv to

capt.ains and other shirs's of fice rs r1)"ing the tudebetween Canton and In dia,

(Ju ring the remaining nine ye ars oi his life, Mcgee

w as an insti tu t ion at Ca n to n. Hi s ....-as the first in nes tahl ish ed III the foreign co m mun ity th er e, and hi stable and whist parties were ren owned all ove r the

O rie n t. He maintained seve ral "racing e1irr er boars"and a cre w of .\1alJ ~·s to row his tenants and irien dsto Whamroa and back. a conve nient, if illegal service

110 M[Rel IANT AS GAM illER

which they performe d at record speed. Ind eed , Megeeseemed to he prospering once again . He lived well anddied sudden ly, surprising those who had see n himin good health and apparently af fluent only afe'...' hours before." His son, in command of a sh ipthen at Canton for Edwa rd Carrington, was presentdunng his final hours

A short while after Megee died, his wife's ne phew,Edwin T lc nckcs, who was also in China at this time,w rote home the following dCCOU I1l of Mcgee's dea th:

He went 10 Macao with me tn the (.~"jp) ViPCI at

Illy imlJ:c:,Hmn and by dbHaining [nnn his usual halms

\0 iar tn-ovt:Iel1lls to return 10Canton ifI a frw mcmiis.much bClIe r-hut tiis conx ritu t ion IVa" so broken by h is

mnnner 01 living Iltld long rcsidencc in this unh ealthyctnnoic ttiat a shor l jJJllr:;Sn /fr ied him o ff. His rcm ain sat e lllie lfed (In French Island IlCdr W lw m poa an d II

IWII.!WJ1Iw\IO/le rlaced OI'CI Ih em - h e had h is rcuscnrl'r({'('lIy lJ! the last hou r of dcath~) al'ped!ed calm I;'tl

co11ee/l'd t'! 1 I'n iCClly awale uf hh .\ilUlltion giving

lIircctJOflS about many little aiians which should beaftenl1ed 10-1 am glad Ihal wm (fI,k:c:ce I r.) was be -eas he miRht not havc been perfectly aware of Capl.\fsa ffam ,al tho' I was fu11y satisfied abollllhem before 1kft here last yeal. 111"ally think il i.\ mmt iomuune fOI

tumscli l~) his itiends that hi~ ckillh wok place whenit did, as I do not believe but whet he mus t havetelm qussh ed el'CI}'thing he held in hi.~ name th is yea r.

Era}' vein had been bled to the la\I~' il mU.Hha \'ecome loa poil1l .mon,-Con.~e/illa(a hong merchant)

Ilho plObo"l}' ('}ca:c:eratedJ makes a claim of fivelIundwd ~l Pi tty Thou.~and Dollars. Inn u flletab leolher demands aft' made <lndthetc all' .mme cases that

(11(' rcally dj~ lrc~.~ing-r S/IYllo llJin:c:o f this .mbiec t to

my Ilwtlll'l "") sun t as I C(/ Il add /lolhing sa tis fac to ry to

WII,1t t lu y /Ilrc/lI/y know ,49

Although it diffe rs radic ally from all other accountsof Mcgee's last days, Ienckes' s to ry rings true. He hadaccess to more info rm atio n th an the ot hers, and hisstory seems far more eharactcnstic of Captain Megee .

~~ Call1ll.o;tun rarers~:; Y"un~ xteace received the advantages his tether had

I.l(kcd He arrended rrera r.norv school under Williamwoodbndge In Kew.nk l': I" entered Yale In the fall01 IW:;, Ir appears. however. that he ..11..1 not graduate.

-1(, I, ~ T. H l'erklns,!O "\e"ee, lunc (" IW1, Megee Papers-11 !'eter W, Snow, Ca nton, 10 Ed ...-ard Carrin"lUn, pro vi-

deuce, Arrill.:;,IH l2, Camnmcn Pape rs It seemsMc;:cc'~ uprimism did not fail h im eve n in his extrem ity.

["".1<1\' <I <JIW !>Jock .,tH·e! 111 l',"vld"nc·,' C"IllIllCIlJ<lwrc" rill'

Illlln" , JI rh,' I1INCh<l1l r ,~am/>In ",lIm<, 1'1''1'I'rrl'" Olin' Jll

cllltJ.od I.ltId on II. TIlt' I'r"I'ld"IIC'C Towll CoullClI .Il'l'Fl'l't!

01( Novl'mllt'r 12, IS(J5, rh,Il" I'll,' ,ra'd IrWII C,,"r:.:l' to

lkrll'l'olenf .\ rrel'l W"'I\I'<I,<1 Irom rll" ~c'ho"III"lI"""

,IIIIul.l h" 1l<l/JIedMcgl'c .~Ir<'l'1

D~'~lr of mal', ""UrI...Y Brown Um..~ .."y

Allhuugh hrs crcdn must have been desrrovcd with hisbankruptcv he wrote Guard thai he expected to eon­duct a commIssion and aaencv busmcss al Canton'Me~l'l.· to (.;U;lrtl, Fehruary K, IslO, GI13ftl 1' ;lPCIS; onrmc rofrlm at the Amencan !'hLlos"rhlcal SOCiCf\',

-IH Brv.antl' Tilden, "Father's IllUrllal,"101·102. tYl'c~cril'l

at Peabodv Museum. Salem, ,\\JssachuS{;Hs~" lenckcs to Samuel N igh l illRa1c [r luly 3 1 1821, Mehce

Papers.

"'Still MOle NOles on Rhode IslandCabinetmakers and Allied Craftsmen

There is a clav.ic sto ry about a Htrle ~ir l who wrote to

the p ublishing company which had just distr ibuteda hook on penguins. "This hook," the letter read, "toldme a good deal more about penguins than I ca reto know"

I trust this and mv two preceding Juiciest will not

tell the readers of Rh ode hland History more thanrhev care to know about our early make rs of fu rniture.

There is a counnuing fascination about old ma nu­scripts that makes the search for information horh'Irrl'Jlin/.: .md wu rthwhilc , and so, rhc sto ry goes on.

A certain amount of pri nte d biographical infor­marion exists .rbour Isaac Senter and his Iarnily , whosefurniture and other records ....·cre d iscusscd in the firstarricle, hut he comes more alive when we can U'Jd:

. Our other trtends arc in their usual situationexcept Dr Scntcr-e-who has opened a hospital on

Connantcut [the isbnd of Jamestown, a short distancewest of Ncwport , accessible by ferry then and regret­r.iblv onlv bv bridge rodav] for In noc'ulatinj; the sm all

pox ami hns his lime en tirely engrosse d in his practice,,\ 1rs, Senter docs not KO tu the Assem bly th is winter-c-owing I believe 1U some little fraca [sic} with Someladics-c-thc I)' 1011.1 me it WJS he r own in chnanon ->

.md he refused subscnbing on Ih31 account."! Senterwas also president of the Society of the Cincinnanwhen he ccrnficd in Newport on Oct. 28, 1790 , that

CoL Samuel Ward was a member of the Rhode Island~rour:l And 01 the son who W3S later to be killed inJ duel, Ray Clarke, studying in Cambridge, wro te to

his fa th er on Nov. 16, !X(Xl; " . . H or ace Sen ter isreturned [from London), I rac ed th ro ugh out Boston inorde r to find him, but in vain, give m y love to h im .

Wtll he scrrlc in Newport By Jtlendi n~ pr ave rs I h aveconnec ted .1 had cold "s Incjdemallv, voicing apique well unde rstood b}' anv student or loyal

alumnus Clarke wrote hb app.rrentlv preoccupied

•!'-1r, Oil is the author of Th,' Iohn Brow/1 /f"u", LoanFxhilllti"/1 "I R!wde IIllIud F1I1I1illlle iProvHknCl', 19("'~1.

" Reeell! DI't,.,;o\"eries amon~ Rhode Island CJhinetmake rs,md TheIr \\lork ." Rhodi' hl<lnd History, v, 2X, no. I.\Vinter IW,<) IhereJ fter cited "Recent Dis..:overies .. ."1."l\ l.ore Sotes on RhoJe hldnJ CahinetmJkt'r~JnJ TheirWork," Rhode lsll1nd HI5(01)'. v.18 , no. 1. Srrin,l:: 196')

(here;tftcr (lied ."ore Nllte~ . ."1.

farbe r on Nov. 21': "In your add ress ro rhi s Unive rsityyo u st ile it Y,11e instead of ll.uv.u d" and .:Ibo com­ment ed his "cough W.:lS wc.rring off" and so on.'

The search ior new cabinetmake rs also uncovers

such men as M csh ack Potter 01 Cranston , who marriedTemperance BurlinKJme and made 1w 0 beds forDeliverance \\lJICrrnan~

Funher examination of the Soctetv'v manuscript

collect ions has resulted in the dlscovcrv 01 nc ..... cabinetand chair makers, and addition al inform.uiun about

known wnrkcr s. The significance of rh csc new li~tin~s

can be nsccrtninvd hy ;111 unulyais of cxisung records.\ \ 'en J ell Ga rrell in the lun c 195H iSSUl' oj Allri,/tl<'$

listed about 141 workers in the N cw port J r";,1and, in

October 1966, in rhe same magazine , he presentedabout 172 men in the Providence area, These are thetwo major sources oi infurmation available and arc

the results oi ,\1r. Garren's considerable new research,together w uh rhc findi n~s oi ea rlier students , par­tic ularly fl, tJhcl Mun son Swan, concemmg Newport,

and Ethel 11.111 Bjerkoe. Together with nne maker from

B.lrri ngton listed in IIjl' rkoe/ th e know n R.I workersnumbered about 314. T he total in cl udes cuhinct­

ma kers, chai r makers, ru mors kno wn to have madeiurnnurc, and men described as ' icincrs," .111 workingbefore the 11'411-1·".';0 period and actuallv making

things, not merely sellin~ rhcm. The inclusion of all" joiners" is justified as there '<ems to be a definiteusage, in R,I at least , ot the rerm " house wright,"

"house carpen ter," " sh ip wti!:ht," etc. when the joinerwo rked prim arily 0 11 things other tha n turniture.

Previous .nuhors ha ve, tun hcnnorc. ;l ! W,IYS includedth em , and consistency in..licates we should do rhe

same. The number of men It-ted must be ..~mewh<ltapproxtm.nc . as a worker oncn helped hUlk! a house,made furniture , mended fences and other ,hings. anddid a \'<Iriety (It odd jobs , and di-aincuons between

1 Anna Clarke tuPhehe Wanl in New York CiH'. Samuel\VaHI I',l r l'rS, Tht: Rhude (sl.lnd Histori<.: .11 SOllet\',Un,I.lteJ hilt hdore Senter's dl"lth in (k ",:rnher (799.

.\ Samucl Ward r.l re r ~ .

~ Ethan Clarke I'apers. The RhuJe Island I li~lOrical

Socier\",'i Ethan Clarke Papers.6 Sec "!'u!ll'r, .\1c§hack" in Ii,un/:;lt end of ;lnicle.7 E.thcl Hall Bjcrkoe, ClIhlllrtm"ken " f AmC1/(1I ;'\lew

York, 19'i7.

III R. t. CAlllN n M AKERS

Nl'wl'()lI~ Quaker A'Julin;; Houw uwj erwel1t /ll,mydWIli!.C,\ l'd'well the rime 111 the 17th CClllU J;'. when it wmf Irst Iluil t. andthe 1850.1 whel) thl.l lltho:<'F<lpll WilS clOIl/'lien· rh l' .f'II/Hl lI I Tmv11I e I1d I d id ,\O/lli' "I' ro.\<1 iC C'Jll'fl I!C I i n $

work" '11 the r,Jlt' of .II'Velt IlliIIlll):l , s iXl'nlCe 1'0 day,

carpc n u-rs or Jay laborers and cabinetmakers can

become blurred . The illustr ious Edmund Townsend,lob Townsend , and Thomas Townsend, for insr.mce,d id prosaic c.rrpc n tcrin g work for the Quaker MeetingHouse in Newport , o t tcn at 'I r.uc of 0-7 -6 per day,S in

addition to crcaung some of rhe finest Rhode Islandchests, rubles , .rnd other form s.

In these three .imclcs in Rh od e l.~ltlI\(l1!is/nry. (,l

new names have been added. including 29 fmtn

Providence and S from N ewpor t, incrcasing the I<H,i1

almost 20 % to 375 workers. The earliest knownProviden ce jo ine r, lames Dexter in 1719,~ and 24 more

makers who worked in outlying towns such as East

Greenwich, North and South Kingstown, w ar ren ,Bristol , Cranston, Scituate , and Coventry have also

been hrought to light. Addinonul data on about 65known workers and 4S other craftsmen has also been

.>;in·n. A few new makers in M assach use tt s we re alsodiscovered in passing.

R Rhode Island Monthly Meeting of Friends . Misc. 1'>1ssF) J.! 11 7H7, PH J , [7HS, and INII Th e Rhode IslandHrvtonc.rl Society .

Y " More Notes .

Som e of these new men were probably sophistica tedworke rs, ;1111..1 pieces some muv credi t to those 100­

tnmili.rr names Goddard and Townsend could well beby their hand . The vast bulk of the men working inthe field , however , have prnbahly been far lessexciting, and made the common and useful objects allhouseholds needed, The same holds true for all the

snncs : not everyone in M assachuse tts was a Frothing­ham nor a Seymour, nor a Randolph nor an Affleck

in I'cnusvlvanin.Whnt has been dismissed as an early owner's na me

on a piece of furniture , perhaps pencilled on somedrawer side in years past , should prompt lili to re ­examine such writing today in an attempt to assess

th e cupahilhics of these new workers.

T h e quantity 01n,1Il1eS docs reflect the th r iving

nature of Rhode bland commerce and local indust ryin the l xrh .md tilTly 19th centuries and justilies the

search '1I11On g the Society's archives fo r me n from

lO WcndcllD. Garrett . "providence cabinetmakers.ch.nrmakcrs , upholsterers, and allred craftsmen ,17.16-11\.11< ," AIl/I 'lta" [Octob er 1<)661 , "TheNewport cabinetmakers a corrected check hst"A lJ li'llIt~'i [Iunc lYSR !. Both hereafter cited "Garrell, "

•

113 R. I, CAlIlNH MAkERS

A bi ll to Rev Enos H uchcock iro m Gr in ne ll andTaylor rcads ;

"M"r 9, 17119 To Glldinr, 16p1ClUft'

[mmcs ('!i 11 0-J6-D

!uly 20 To 1'"lInflnga Wme Cuoler

0-JJ-4

0-2·6

0-4-{)

1·0-0

0-.3-0

f>b<J

0-12-{)

IWICC overSepl 1 To l'<Iintmg. 5'/, yds. canms for

sulh' fOP(" 2

Dec. 3 To Pamurig. glldm,l( and \'/Hn"hing/I plctule Ilume

179O,\tar 1 To P<lmtmg. your .du)"

2·13·/0'·11

Hitchcock's fire buckets ....-crc painted hy th e samerlrm in OCt. 1790 fur 0-6.0. 11

Ho .....ever, other w orkerv in Providence wer e alsop.uronlzed w ho arc ne ..... to the records. On Sept. -a,I 79f1, Geor~ ... Lugdcn billed Hitchcock'

To lupa/mmg, WIlli.: an,1GJldm1.2 mcmm:n / ; iT<lntc

4 COmpmJl101J OrlldlfltrJId/ .~ruJ." G,1tand find

\'<ltm~hm.l(anJ llron:c Gd,fmga CUlMt

Abel All en , a make r, 10 Zuriel Waterman, a customer.Some (If the na mes and tr ans ac tions discov ered

among the manuscri pts ex pand ou r kn owl edge of alliedcrafts men Far too litt le is known about th e activit ies0 1 pa inte rs, gilders, and pic tur e an d looking gla ss

frame makers and their relationships with cabi net­make rs th roughout the co lunies, for instance. T h is isparucula rfv true for Rhode Island and Providen ce,where rhc post wa r period saw grea t me rca rntle for ­tunes being accumulated and with them a de ma ndfor elegance.

Petet Gunnell and Son. and Grinnell and T aylor,han: been treated m Gar ren's article on Providence

makcrs In AIllJ(/llO.lO in my tirst article, and in otherarucles and various boob They adverused themseh-esa-, ol "manufactory," but opinion has al wa ys been

divid...d as to ....-hcrhcr or not they actually made someot the lookin,l: glasses and frames they sold al ong.... ith imported articles Certa inly they and their sub­coruracror-, wc rc polintt;IS who ornamented d va rietyot objects, as their advcmscmcms and labels state.

C"l ' \DII'\ "· t\1't'.·" uu~ t' .

Houben Burdon,So. 60. " ·...n " ..n.·n.-.n.np,-il, 1M .!lip ttl l IN On al H01OI.

If '\"c..... ta.,Jy .... "'nd. a U ...pl" lalUOnrtm'lll ellt; ,\HI S t:,T 'VIJ RS ITCRF.. nfa ••"ri..-q ... lit,..

" ", .i.liIlK ..r \laN'K. Il ' l'lid,buutl.. ~..,tari,.. Bu­...... .. T . bl,.. fI.,odol..,l.. ::10..... .. 10 1011,1., &.co 6.~ o &.c.I ''lf'' ' ' .. il ". rllr,.I .....r1m'n' " f t ·hi" . of' aln''''' t.., .." ripl infll , llmpri. inK.It,~t1lfr an &o..,rtm~nt

nol ill IN' o0'l-i b, all" in tOW II. all " f which will be001,1nn lhe mOllt lil>oo; .1 t~rm.o

S , II. II."'ilo.... made ....d "'pain'd . t tile . horle. "nnt""J"""ory'2'lL'- _

A5 l/l fhc mst.ince of /cfemil/I! F. len lOllS, fh e cmnplica­fHm" '"~ dltn/>u rlll.~ /,Ie,"'" of iuminnc ro "pcci fic maker>,HC ,Jlu"tr,Jl,'d HI till.' a<!I'O'lfI.'/'n!t·rH from T he ProvidenceDrrccrorv IJI Hll'), J{/'ulwlJ HUfflon'" nota bene warns rharIl/.l Id/'e/ t>1">:rtdIUIC mfr./JI i,klJl,!}· an l11JPOrl. an ongincl['I/:CC, 01 <Ill nem 11'/',,0<"<1 hr !lm!.

J·l·O"1l

On Feb. 1(" 179Y, Samuel Hrow n billed h im lor"Gilding and Pai n t ln!,: (....·0 names /o:lass ere."£9/ O·II:!·O."I~ This mav he the Samuel E. Brow n

listed in the 11'2~ I'lOndl'IK,-' Directory as a painter at150 Nort h Ma in Sr. and ~6 Ben efit S,- H itch cock h adpurch ased lin Mal_ IS, l 79ol, a pair of "Elegan t giltfram e looking J;las.ws I I:! x 1.'i~ ior 10-0-0 irom

lc remi ah F. lcn kin s.U h ut as th e laucr ap pe ars to havebeen a shop kee pe r, these rna)' ha ve bee n importedin their fini sh ed state.

H itch cock 's acrivlncs with these nhjec ts ma y pos­

sibly he e xr L1 i ll~' d by th e [ac t that he was the preacherfor th e "Ben evolent Co nMC/p linn al Church andSociety," and so me may have been used in the church .

Hitchcock W,I S born ill Springfield, M ass" in 1744,grJdUallod from Har va rd in 17(,7, and aftcrheing

nrdaim'J in 1771 bcg.m preaching in Bcveelv , M ass, In1783 h e souled perma nentl y in Providence.

He purcha sed pi ct ur e fram es from John C arli sle,W all en .m d Raw son , an d Joseph Rawson in the

1 780s . l ~ He m ay have done the same fro m others, asth e Hi tch cock P'lplors, whil e representative of hisIamilv's affolirs, a rc not ne arly as com ple te and

II Enos Hnchcock l'ape rs, The Rhode Island HIstoricalSoden'

u Ibid.13 ibid.

14 ,bid.IS Ib,d.

16 See Iistin,; under each name at rear of arucle.

114 R. J. CAIHNH~'AlURS

22-10 10-5- 1 3

.J-5-8 :?

1-5-8-2

55·1.1·3247210 I/658-2/5-0-0-0- l-J-3-J

<J ·l71J"12

old n-n r WI' fill m J1IC\

500",

&0"'100 O-Q

11)-0-0

110000

1/00 0 0380·00~50 (J (J

l~ (J-{J

23(J 0-0

" 1 ca t of drJIH"l/o}n! nco!I l.rrge look"lg glJ"1 low ("<I "of Jr.r\\I.'/\

I negro man (tilled NcwportJ IlCP-0 \\,omdn

/ p"" oxen3 (o\\'~

J 2 }'1old mute1 ~ ~ I old 11I,1/,'

hill " To l'uintinj; their sign 1-0-0" in Ap ril of that year.Another painter, Thomas P. Clarke, hilled Al my

and Brown 011 July H, I N 5, for "patnnng -I windowblinds green of, 9 / I ·Jo·{l " i "Tod ittowritingde.-.k0-9 ·0" ; and "T o my bill lor Painti ng BAkeH ouse 2-2-5."

A hill of J79H covers, ..... ith details, the painling 01

th e interim of th e hake house, evidently a detachedstructure , for 2_ 1_~ . 2 1

Fin e looking glAsses were valuable possessions inanv household . An interesting comparison oi valuesin the total conte xt of mid -18th century standards andpractices C.1I1 he obtained hy studying a few selecteditems from the estate inventory of prosperous Robert

Hale oi North Kingsto.... n . tak en on March 22 and23,1765 :

The last ngurc in th e ' lawful money" column

prohablv refers to ianhi ngs , oi hich there are .J to apenn y. Thc w idc dittc rcncc hc t ccn th e two columnsshows the extent of inllation in olJ tenor in thispc riod , and also illu~tr .ltes the pu talis in comparingpr ices w ithout knu..... lll,l; the money standard rmploy...d .

As w ith other forms of fu rn i tu re, the case pieces

offer somewhat flf J problem in visunlizfng. In Rh odeIsland Invcn roncs the re ar e seve ral types occurringwhich m ay ove rlap, or m ay each 11(' J specific for m :low case of drawers, chest, hi~h C;l,e of d rawe rs, andh i~h chest wit h dr aw ers ,

T he cst.uc inventory of M rs. M ar v \\'a rd ufNewpor t. taken OCI. 2(" [7(,7 , i.-. .1lso il1lrig~ng nOI

only for a few IId,1 ucm-, hut ;\!so for the m anner inwhich various Items were placed or stored in thekeeping room , ,I " couch" [a dayhl'd1j was valued at15·0-0 ; and e1st'where, " I lk sk 10-0-0," " a Case of

Drawer~ with gb,w~ ! (HJ.CJ: ' "J .mdlllahies with the

Chill:! upon one nl them IS-a-a: ' And " I Candlesland

numerous as , for example, the Isaac Sen ter Papers inthe Gr eene Collect ion.

Th e Ir.rmcs may ha ve been sold to be used as is, orperhaps were improved o r " fin ished" with gilding

and /or paintin~ hv such m en as Brown , Logdcn , orG rin ne ll and T avl nr As im po rte d si lve red ~l.1ss was

availahle it ..... nu lJ seem a vhott jum p to the conclusionlonkinl:: ~ I a,.-. frames would have been m ade h ere bycabincrrnakc r-, a.-. .....e ll. des pite cunene tentativeopi n ion 10 the co n trary 11 There i.-. no sure documen­rat ion to su ppo nrhis h owever. Isaac Sente r, in

;..;c....'po rt follo .....cd the pancm and bought pictureframes in 1790 , l N 2. an d 1793 from makers Benjaminpabod ic. and in 1795 ir om Ben jamln and JohnHam mond l~

X ut l'\ en' painter nr I': ilde r see me d 10 have beenln tc rcsud in, fir C.lp.lhlc of. work on pi cture and1000ki nl': globS n am es An accou n t boo k rcccntlv foundin the SOClCl\ 's collections l'> \' C la rkso n A. Collins 3'J

i.-. thut ot Will iam Al len o f Providence, and cove rsthe per iod oi 177-1 thr ough 1790 . It would appear Allenpainted .m d gilded the chaises (carr iages! 01 most of

rhe im po rt ant people in Providence, as well as for,ICl ual chaise makers such a.-. Nathaniel Frothingham.[nos Hirch cock'c .....as don e in June , 171'5_He was

also a si/1: npainte r, and the entries include, on M arch-I 17K" , "p.nnting a Shophoard O-,~ -O" for " Shacklefordth e lIarhl'l: ' th e dl;lTgC' balanced by being shavedover a period o f umc Additional signs we re Ior co rd­w.rtncrs and nthets, Including T ru m an and Company,for whom Allen painted in 17fl-l 10 "Spcria Bettle s,"

,I -agnbo.rrd at 0 -1\)·(" .md "T o pai nting an ow l tostand un dlun {}--I -6," One is rem inded of the ca rved

wood squirrel and polvch rumcd busts of Athen a and,\1ihon th;lt stood on the in te rio r door or firepl ace

pcduncms 01 the John Hruwn House.t" hut rhcre is noen try in the JCCllUIH honk for th ese (of course oth er

;ICCOUil t hooks m.ry have existed : one co uld ha rdlycorup rc ss 17 years ' activity into one book] . Allen was

capable ot such fine work ; there are many entries for"Pamtinj; Flower on ch aise o-o ·a ," "Painting a flou rcypher," and painting lette rs. [veil more inte res tingarc entries " To paintinlo: a figu re on a Chai r: ' and

sometimes ~ildin,it as .....ell Allen 's dale ca n be ex tended[l) 1791 as Ihe Almy and Urown Papersw include a

I ~ Cha rl"s ,\ \,ml~omelv Amctll'alJ FUrnHU rl'. lh l." Fed a alrCI/",I. 1\0: ..... YOlk , 19('o('i

I" Is.!a" ~ntt-ll'a l'Cr , In rhe Alhcn C. and Rich ard \ \' .GrCt."IlO: Cullec lIo n. The Rhod e Island !iislOll cal Socien

! <J l o~ph!\ 01[ The I"hn Hlm.., l Hou .c LO<I/J Exh l lll1 mn

", J.tll,,,f, I 1111<1 FtHllllUl('. PIO" IlJcnce, -I he Rhode'.-.LmJ HI' lllllt .ll ",,,,It·!\. I <J(' ~ . ;.00 , 'JO;and9\ Ih" real1ercu" d d ' /HI/l.

10 AIm \' Jn d I'Ir"wll r ape',_Th e Rhude Isl.lIld H..-.tnricalSOUI.'1\· Box ;:C'.

115 II; I, CA8IN lT~1A KERS

ii xed upon a stand (>.0-0." A qua n ntv of earthe n ware,chi na, ~I,1ss and valuable " wrought plat e" was " ina closer "1.\

In ,1 lat e r period , ou r knowledge of termi nology isfu rther inc reased hv re;l di n~ the inve ntory valuation

of the shir (;wrx(' and ,\lury, sa iling tor Buenos Airesfor the account oi Brown and lvcs O n hoard wh en

it "left the lighthouse at I P:\1 Arril9, HlIO," we re:"Sham Sccrer.mcs cahnolc sophas . . slrai ,l:.ht fron tvnphav w hire and gold chairs" an d mmv m orefJsein,lling itcms!l A der ai led list is appe nde d a t th e

en d o f this art icle Cha rles Monuauncrv , in hi s FederalFU Hlllll7<' states the belief "cahnolc sofas" were onesw ith th .... lu ck lai l blend ing into the lOpS of the arms

in ,I smooth ,Ire; rhar rhis for m was listed sepJra tcl yfro m "straight [runt sofas" together wit h the tact

th e lat te r we re constdc rahl v mor e expensi ve m igh thelp indica te this md....cd W J S the case.

!'e rh ;lps onv oi th e most significa nt featu res of th isr nnnilc st is the ell try ;H the ver y en d for freight andpuckinu ch.ngc , trnm N ew Yor k, indica t ing Brow n

and Ivcs had hnuuh t, and/or ha d had co nsigned,tumirurc in that cnv and had it hrcughr to Providence

and then shipped as venture ca rgo for Argent ina. Iftumnurc was brough t in for expo rtation, it is quite

Iikclv it \\.1" brought in for wholesale dis trihu t ionamong shup keepers. .md perhaps even cablncr andchai r m.rkcrs la,> in Thomas Howard's case]. Thissnphistic.ulon of comme rce, rcpv.ucd no doubt in o the r

acnvc seaport". cornphcatcs the student', . mcmpts atdc tming region al ch.nactert..tics nj turnuu rc, pa r­tlcul.nlv in the Federal Period. A case in ruin! involves

a set ot chai r.. ,::e nerously gtvcn the Society in thepast vca r an d pictured in th .... Spting 196" issue ofRllOdl' Is/mtd lh.llOn· In the "Di rector'< N cw vlener,"a case is nud e for a N cwport nrigin, based on the

sccuud.r rv wo od s and a style ;ltu logous \0 that of ase t 01 ~ [not 3, as stated\ " Ne w York type" chai rslabelled 111 N ewport bv lohn To w nsc nd and recentlypictured 111 Anll'lut"~ 1.>

Bva curious coincidence, Inhn T ownsend also

becomes importan t in co nnection wit h the two

upholstered back and sca t ar m ch ai rs with "101" fluted

leg s shown in " Rece nt Dis covcric s...." Th ese chairsca n be tr aced to the es ta te o f William P. 51ll' l fie lJ

21 AIm\' and RIIl",n raro:rs. KAR IBllls and Receipts''I he Rhode Ivland f j,storical Society.

.!.! lko n ah Brown !'apI:IS, The Rhode Island Hrsnmcal~()C le IV,

.!.\ S,lITIl I,.] Ward r .1J'e ls

Thf: IIy'hthousc \\ hJch the Ceorge and M ar y lef t ar" J r, \ fA p,, 19, 1810:' wt/, prol>t/I>h' Ret/I'e-rlml. /<lme~/(l\\" n.

shown III th is Jc/d11 from \vJllit/1Il H<lmlm·,\ J79/l ('ngl<l\'1n,~1m the (' w vidcn cf' M arm e Society's mem11t'r.,Jlll' ani/K,It<',

.!

I

I

,

wh o, with h is sivrc r, ....-as mentioned in the will ofEllen Town send As ..he died with no close rcl.nlvcs,th e cxccu tu r wa s in structed III di spose of he r things

,1, she would have d....sired. T he Shcfticlds we re vcrvclose Inc nds .md thev received much tine fu rn itu rean d othe r items of h istoric signiticance,;ls is well

documen ted Ellen Townsend had inhe rited thingsfrom her father, loh n F. T ownsen d (son 01 John the

cabi ne tma ker], as well as all the household furni tu re0 1 her brorhcr Chris to pher. Ch risto phe r. on his part .had in hc rnc d vari ou s th in J.: s, p.mlcularlv nll thehou s.... huld furn iture from h is aun t, Ma rv T ownsen dBnnlcv [not mother, ;IS in IBll j ..... f arv Tow nsend wa s[nhn Tow n sen d's d au ghter , ap pa ren tly a t -crhc from

the amount 0 1 turrnrure 3.nJ other th inJ;' k it he r inhis will, horn in 1769, m arried 10 Thomas Brin ley in

1"'1.1, .md died in I k~. Am ong the things she let t he rn ep hew Ch lvmp hc r were : "2 I.<l rio:c arlll dllJir~ SUI!I$6.; I square rnnhogmv rahlc 56.; 6 mah ogany flag

sea t chai rs 56 ,; I din ing t.rblc 2 tea 1.1 01e <; SH ' i I sob

.!~ ~\ i sc . I\lSS [uncatalcgucdl Sell,,"s A The Rhode IslandHrvnuic al S"CJctV.

2'; loscph K Oil, " fohn Townsend, , I ch.nr and tWOt.lhk s,"AIl/;'IIJI"' , ISl' r tembL·1 l%SI,

-

11 6 R. I. CAIII N H M AKERS

$2.50; I ea sy chai r 51.50"i and " 1 arm cha ir w ith

cushion S ,H ." It is q u ite lik el y the IWO chairs Illu s­rrated in " Recen t D isco ver ie s ..." we re these tw O

st u ffe d a rm ch airs belonging to M J l)' Tow nsend, andhad been gi ven her by he r la ther Joh n T ownsend

bef or e he d ied . The chairs can be we ll related to John

Tow nsend s tylistically . Cert ai n Iam ilv descendan tsha ve been very kind in helping to develop this

aunbunon .

T he new• information on Rhode Isla n d cabinet and

chai r make rs and othe r Clansmen follows. A n as te ris k

before a name indicates a w o rker pr ev iou sly u n listed.

AJo.Im5, Eulcial. On "ta ~· 24.IIUJ, described sel f as ' Cabinet-Maker" o n a pri nted sales slip lo r a "cherry work standS.1 ';(l," glvm/: address as :-Jo.71 . w esun m sr e r St."

Providence. The c ustomer was 'S. \ \'h,te rm'lTe" I;!,probablv Samuel Wetmore lor whom Edward Camnetou

aim pJ.ld Iumnure fer a lr bills to John Carhlezeh wasthIS wetmore a pa rtner o f Camnaron and much in volvedwith the Chma trade , whose descendants effec ts weresold .11 aucuon by Parke-Bernet in Newport m September1969 Co rrects C.lm:u

•A//en A/lc/. In 17% was rep.llTlllXlooms in Dec. 1798,brlled "w ork 1. d J\'S m.lkln..: WlLtm..: Table and Dcvk and

cove red the same wuh b.nzc0· 16-0," m pine , and onFeb " , 1799, "10 work and stuff" an d "making la rge chestdovet ailed With paUln"s rpamuons" ] for papers andbooks 1-13-0: ' all 101 th e accou n t 01 Almv and Brown an dpcrhJ.ps for then o fflees I'IOVlJenceH AIm )' an d Brownwere mercha nt s an d ha d othe r rntc tes ts includi ng te xti lefa ct orres.

•Allen, Abd <mJ /1LHiu l. In IN2 bil led Rev. Enos Hitch cock

for making hed rails, laki n!/: dow n cu rtain boa rds, altcnug

.1 mah o,l;an y bed stead , putti llR up a milk shelf , mJkjn~

a n axe h J ndle, amI su nd ry othe r work.1~ Th t: AIm}' andlitown Papt:rs also hav e J rcfeft:nee 10 th e partnershipin 1796. rroviden ee.

Alle n, Bl'n;<1min. In 17YO hilled ~cv . Enns Hit chcock formendmg a gat e, rllllllll; a covt:r on J bux J nd on a lrunk,mending a "COl bedstead: ' Jnl! lain" window s and thesta blt:. rroviden ce11l Pruba bly mor c 01 a CJr pe n terth an a maker ,

26 Edw ald Carnngton I'apns, The Rhude Isla nd HistoricalSockly.

27 Alm y and BlOwn Pape rs, Bnx 1.'128 Enos HHcheock l'ap-cls29 Ibid,

JO Coun 01General Sessions of Peace, M SS l I746- IR17).Tht: RhoJe Island l·h slOllcal Society.

J I AIm)' and Brown Papet s, Box J5.31 Ibid.•Box 18.JJ "Reeen i Discoveri es , "

•Alwoud, Tlunnas DeserlbeJ ,IS"loyncr" in .ru action 11'­corded III 17 ~2 . Newr0f{ ~i

Hllrko , W rll ldlll In [71lY hilled AIm" ,1l1J Brown for seh ofspunls, mcudm ..... chan s and baskcrs and a srlllninl; wheel ,some fO I lh e tKlor\" and some lor a lirowlI o r Wilham

Alm\ IJ com mon pl.lCUee1.1I In 17Y~ lulled the samecustomer in r llllllll lmn..: chans in leather and CJ Ilt:, whi psdlpprrs c.mes. e tc.' Hnkcrs ac count books also showhe wo rk ed th rough I~'r 1''''\'1.1,1\", U Extends da tes inGallell 1IIt-l

&/le5 IfJll<l lll.l1l BIlled Ikllah Brown III OU 178~ fOI men.I.ing a chan and In J7K ~ 1m ,a,h Ii);hts , a spool and.l whnlell; I'm hahh "'1ll.L:'loWn \.l l'crhaps more of a tu rner

rh.m a maker

BWI'n. & 11I.1l11l1l U n lune I ~ PW, lulled Obadiah Brownlor !i m ahoa anv cha ll tramcs S4 ~ and on lune e, 17YeJ.bllleJ hun lor an addmonal /I m.lho~Jn)· chairs at thesame pncc Providen ce ' 1\\;1\'extend the da les for theBcuramm Browns listed 1lI (;allcll . or m.l\ be aucw worker.

C<lr1J1r , foh n On A u~ N , 17':1(" billed Rev. Enos Hnchcockfor a picture frame SI 'iO16 It .Irrc.lr~ 110m man~ manu­SCllpl collccuous IhJt CJ l llle also supplied the co ffins iOIm an v rt not most , utthc more prominent people o fProvidence I'rovrdeucc .

CHJ1ClIl< t , I\ 1I1:/. I.·y, In I7<)J hill ed Almv and Brow n for

turrum; 'plndIt:s, whnls. alld cvhndcrs and for sorpl, ingpicke r -uck-, (Ill mod ern rcxnlc rmlltcrrr nnology, thelong stick un cnhcr 510.1,· otthc IIMlm rhar pivo rs and isrhe ins uument hv whic h th e ,hu ttlt: I~ banged across thewid t h of t he f.lhlle l. I'rl1\'l.lenee. l1 A t ur ner , a nd m ayhave been a ma ker .

' C ox, \ Vilh <l nl , O n Nov. [S, 17!i2, ,lrpea rs to have su pp hc d

'I ma ple des k and 2 rahlc s val ue d at 5-0-Uto balance c.uh.IJ lln w '111d ~ u Il Jr ic~ III the accou nt 01 M ark Anthonyll eWolf . On Sert. I~ , 17il2, .1 nUll o f th e same nallleappears to h;lve sUPl'lled "one ridin .L: ehea r 12·0 ·0" IIIhalall eo.: cash, hJY JIlJ ~ lI LlJ rlo.:S \{I l he acco un l of ElizabethDeWoll, BristoJ.·l~

Coy, /. W.ln 17t'4 117S<) n hi lled Rt:v. Enos Hlt ch &ck for a..Maho.L:any eJsy chai r 1· 1~ .(J. " I' rov IJ o.: n ce " ~ f:>otenJsdJtes in G atre ll.

.l--I Bel iJ h Bro w'n I'ape rs.

.l ~ Alm v ;lnd 1I10wn 1'J.re rs, Box .34,~ f ilm. 1IIIch cuc k I'arers

.\7 Alm \' anJ Blo wn PJ.pers, Box 16.

.\8 MISC. MS-'" (uneau lo.....uedl ll rled " AnJ lews, Arn uldMalbone " , T he Rhode Island H ,stoli eal Society.

,W Enos Hitch cock Papers.~o Carrin~lOn I'apn s.-II Enos Hll ch cock Parels ,

11 7 R I , CAII I/'.;ET M .... Kf.RS

Curry. Amm, ln Iulv 11'119 , lulled Henramin Hoppin " To 1Dozen IJncy curle ,\\;Irk C hairs at Sol ';() S'>.>,"

l'rovidcncc.«t s ee Ga rrett, "Recen t Discoveries . . ."

Apparcnrlv mo te than a p.un tcr. hut wheth er a mer ch antor make r IS unccnam

n "ll/urth. /ol. On Ian 21, 1790. hilled Rev Enos H itch cockior (, mnhoganv chairs " 2-1 1-4-0. and on Dec. 2-1, 1795billed him lor an arm chair 1,100, Pro vulcnce.e t

lleHer, I" mt'" Described J\ rovncr" in deed oi AU,ll;ust 31P19, makmg him eJrlll,·sr recorded romcr in Provi den ceSec ' ,\torc ~ntes ' wh ere this entry was out 01.llphahcllCJlorder

E,l IOn , Nu ho/lJ Dcscubed as Cabmct Maker' who

leascJ the upper rail ,,' .l -hoI' on .\blll 51, irom AnhurPenner acltll,ll; Js age-nt fur owner Gc.-nI,lte Champlin of:'>:c\oo'rllrl on Ocr (" INI( t'rovrdence.u See ' RecentDiscuvenes

EJm und , . unrud In l"''IlOhllled Aim}' anJ BIOwn lor

rUttln,lt CJSlet_ o n J ch air O·I-f., makin,l: shafts 101a slayand makllll: 2 ure hUJIJ, f). 10-0 I'rovidenceo Probablynot a maker.

En :{~ . h'IIlhUJI In 1."{I1 ,md 1l\(}.l hilled Cla rk Rodman fo r

nails and gluc, th e tccetpt "j(ned bv Ccorne Engs ' Formv t. nhcr ..~~ A not her bill 01 the IR--IOs is bv Fin ch anJ

Engv," prcsumablv a SUCCCS'\{l r tu m an d covers ch es unn

rosts , lumber nails etc h In .111 the manv hills andtecc tp tc mvolving rhc En):s, th ere h.is never been anyreferen ce 10 anvr h rng like cabmct rnakiug. an d I amtempted tn believe the name should he st ruck from th e

TOl1~ In the IJ mOUS"C"JdJ fJ and Engs" pnrtuersbrp,

Enl:s may ha ve covered th e h. lrd wJ re end o f the t rade.Sec Bjer koc, Cu rren. J nJ "R ecent Discov eri es. , ,

•[WIIlI/lghelm, N<ltlt,mdd. III Sert 1787 hilled Rev , Enos

Hll l:h l,:tH.:k " To weel h,1frnw I··HI" I n,l " To Twilightuhle 0· 15·0." I'r"YIJ"· lIce.,l~ I'mh.lhl y Ihc SJme mJn JSlisled III " Reee l1l ()i Sl,:tlVell eS " as a ch;llse makcr.~ '

l'rovid..' nce, "T wlli/, h t," as well as other lI1terestlllgv;lri;ttillns ~llch as " tvlil:h t" tahl es Dcnlr frum time 10

time in th .., rCL"otJ, and ;lTe rrohahlv " Wile l" tables ; their

eXJU ,lr r ear.llle..· in the Rhode Island IJi"m is some .....hatdifbcuh to VisU.llt:..·, alth oul:h Ih ey .lIe " rubahl " what wcca ll'" beJslJe taoks" tOlJ.:IY. wllh I dra ....'e!.

-1 2 C h.1m r lin l' .:I r e15. 1147, The Rh ode h land HistoricalS' >t.: let y.

~ , Almy anJ Bro wn I'ar e rs, Box .'5.-I-t Rh ode 1 ~lanJ .\ \o nl hly Meelillg of Friends.-1 5 Ibid.

-16 EnM HHchcock rarers

-1 7 " RCCCIll Dlscovc ltcs 1 '; . ~e "Cnmcr."

48 EnM Hi tchcock Pa pers-1 9 ReccllI Discol'cfl es . ", (,, 7.

"( ;d1dn er , C,lld>, O n l. m. 19, 17YO, billeJ Rev . Enos Hitch­

coc k "T o makin;: a Easy Cha ll and Case 1· 16-0."Provi dence J . Althou gh listed in Garre ll as a n upholsterer

in 17!B, appears III he m ak ing furniture on t hi s date.

"Grecllwno d, '''ILle. Th rs pracuc al roke r was d iscussed inRcccnr Decovencs . , · ~v hu t th e lo llowillg advertisementrndica rcs he r racl iccJ at least so me 0 1 the .'Ins of the

cJbinctma kc r "IsJJC Greenwood .. lvorv Turner,

M athcma nca] and Med ica l l1\st rument Maker Wes tSide 01 Rridge . m akes and M:lh q uad ran ts . flutes

Ilics, vroh ns wJlkinJ: sucks billiard bal ls and mac eslemon squeeze rs . T(J an d Coifee l'o r handles

nea.t wood and t\'OI\' cases, boxes nf ail SOrts . sa ndbo xes . sv rin..:es umbrella sucks bobbms Chess and

Back Gammon .\1en , Boxes and dice, (;ISlOr stands . .elccmcal machmes . .. and III gene ral all SOrtS o f

t urned work In silver. bra,", n on . rverv, Tur tle shell.bone. horn, and wood Th rv versaulc tellow, a denns tIn addmon . Jlso rcpaned compasses and '"O.l\'IS'S andHad!1:} ', QUJdrJtlts. ;0

Green", lnlm In Au!, 171\';} s-old J coftm ro th e heirs oiloseph 11, ,[J en {or 0- 1';-0,.1 r.lther hrgh pnce for the ti me

lor such an aruclc. and rc th Jr ~ mdu-a ung Greene wasmore than a mere ~Jrrente!. Ptohablv warwrck.sr

H,mlmolld./ohn ' In 1190 hilled Aim}' a nd Brow n for

rnakmg a ' illl lShtnl: cable O·12·U: ' ru tting rockers on achair Ira lll lnj( an d raISlIlJ: .1 house, mending a wheelba rrow and wmdow trJm,·s, and " mJ kin.f; three legbur ds F\." Providence ,l l' r" h.lbh · m ore o t a carpent e r{h an a maker .

Hudson, Robol. In I7YI hi llcJ Aim}' and Brown iur makingJ "w nung desk {I·(, ·O" and J "StJ II1\llI,1: Stool ior WmAlmy 0-,';·0," both inc xpcnsrve and prob.rbly quite

ul1lil'H i;\n Aho rer.lll ed looms, tables, auJ other obicl.: ts

I'roviJence,Sll'rulMhl y mote o f .1 ~arren{eI than a make!.

HU.l ' ''ll 'JIId T('j l t, In 1791 hill eJ Ambto,e Robinsoll Iwh o

dlJ much work til! AJmy and lIm..... nl for j writm~ deskand framill~ .llId Sl> ll llll: a wond ~aw 0· .. ·6, Providence,S-!

·llIme~ . ..111,,/1. Reynold, 1I.lIber 01Exeter. "hou~e carr cn tc!."

hrou).:ht SlIlt lor IIwnq ' Jlle him from lamcs, describeda~ " ~h ()r Joinel .1Ii JScJ bllle t mJker," on O~t. 20, 1776.South Kln/o:stuwn."

:;0 11",le<l .~f<JU' Chwmde. O el. 19, 1786, ruhlished byBennett Whccl er.I' rm'ldcnce . i'''~e .\1SS. 1,\ I I~ . .\1551'·1-131. The Rh ode Island Histollul Soci el \' .

'> 1 Wa lwick I'a r crs, Th e Rhude Isl..nd HIstor ical Society..'>2 Almv Jtld Brown Pap ers, BOll J';.:'1 Ihl d . Box 35.5-1 Ihld ., Box 17.

55 BcriJh Brown I'.lpers

IIR R. I. CAJIlNETMAK[RS

•KUllbal1. D"lIn, Dcscnbcd i1S J "lcvnc r" in a ..feed to Iohn

Thornton dat ed M3 v 2.2. I7·H. Scuuare.se

KJlOwl£os, Edw ar<i On Au" 6, 179 1. brlled Almy nnd Brown. Toa Bedstead dld [dclivered'] In ....tr . Robinson 0- 18-0."

I'rovid ence.st Perhaps more "I a car penter than a maker,

.... Ianrn. I>d\',d In th e IN:!.· I!l00 pe riod bill ed Almy an dBrown lor ca rrenteTllll:, espectallv wi ndo w sash work .for their i3(1toT\'.· Iacrorv hou se," th e h ou ses o t rheBrowns and Almv, and the "meeti ng h ou se" provt­dence ..... ,\ tn' be th e carne ma n as in " More NOle s.

now more of a cJ.rpc:nter

,\II11erJ <lnJ Let". On June 17, l!l.ll, hi lled Edward Ca mng­Ion for (, mJ.h0l:any a rm chairs lor S48., a nd repJ.ir in gtable and cha u provuf ence.w

,\lotl<1\' /<lme'i In 1767 hilled Edwa rd Th uston of the RhoJe

Isbnd ~'onth l v ~1t.-e !l n" of Pnen ds for semng a fenceanJ'a lut 0 ',0\'nlll lt. "(J • r-.: ewpor t.60 Ext ends da tes inG.lHet t J.nJ Bjcrkoe .

.\Iurld\,. Rupul. On M,H 12 11\17, b illed Edwa rd Cumngron

To turr ung IS r O' tS lor Rucmg De sk h 6 S 67 " and" do 32 colloms for Chl mmy Co il [ar :J.' II S; .t l.Provrdence.e! Extends dates in GaTTcH.

Neste/I. ChrnU,1fl O n lunc 21< I":!..l. b illed Edwa rd Ca rt ing ­

ton IOl lep':IIlIn".l ch.nrs for SI .6:!. ; and on Arril1 7, 1816fulle d the same custome r lur "Paannng an J Gi lJl1Ig8 ch airs at 7 6 SIOCO." anJ th e same treatment for6 eh J LTS at 6/ tor S6 OJ prcvidence.ez Sec Garrett , "R ecen t

Drscov enes " Arrarently more than a mere merchant .

Nichols, W ,/lt er. Brlled the Soc wrv of Fncnds III 1774 and178.1 lor "dinners ior Co m mittee 1·0·0" and sundnesea

and therefore wa s apparenrlv involved in the operationof The White Hor se (a famou s run run by his bther

Innath"n Ni~h"lsl whde a cahinetmaker as well,Newport. The llln hills arc III the SAmehAnJwrillllg;/sIs,lac Senter's furniture bill s, darifyin~ 'I moot point in1lielkne;/s to whether lhere were 11010 Walter Nichols,Sec also GJrlelt and " Reeent Discoveries. . . ." It is

intcrestlll~ to nn te 1II a WIll witnessed June 6. 1774, his

father bcqueJtheJ him "3nnllS items oi furniture . I.mJ.anJ paT! of his title anJ Illtclest in buth the Sus'-!uchallna

JIlJ Dl'lJWJfe !'urch 'l ~ e s lla nd develnrment comp3nieso f ln t l!lth l'ent Ul vl,t,4

">6 Pa llle-Th" rnlO n· Wale rman Pa relS, MIS(. MSS. 1'·161 ,The RhnJc Isla n d Hist ollcAI Soclely

';7 Alm v anJ Brow n Parer s. B"x 26,';R ,I'IJ, Box 16 and olh ers

W Ca rri n):lOn Pa rers60 Rhode hlAn d Munt hl v Meelin~ of Fllends61 CJHIIllt.ton ra pefs62 Ca rrinl: lon PaptlS.

N<!IlOll /I A Ol l luh ,1, 1"41 hilled Edward Carmunon"To em'CIIllg 12 French Chairs, I Sp.nusb do, I 1'\0"<.: \'1"n, ~ Annquc do. an J 2 solas,";llI till S7 Xl, l'It). rdcnce.e­InlTJgullll-: lo r the vunctv ul form s up holsun-d

(),Hlt-I'. Nldloh" On MJ I. ~o IsH 11I11e,1Edw.ud Cilrrlllg­Inn for I .\\ahU,I;.ln\' hi"h r"~l heJstcad ere '} S20 =.rlI'rovrdcuce t.6 Extends dates in 'Recent Drscovctrcv

"/" lUI, ,\1,' h,l,k On AplI I 7. 1""67 . hdleJ Dchver.mcc

waiel mall lor I bedstead 1l·12·YanJ for anorhcr bed­stead 0·12·0 '" C rJ.llslull ~r Sccrnv chedr,l>ut amount rnavhe flgUled In hard currcucv mstcad oj the mtlarcd

paper muncy u llh ls nrae. l'ot tcr m.nncd TemperanceBurlmgame on Aprll 1U, 1774

l'lOud. ~Imuel /JIIJ Holme/. Ftum 178<) to 17YS lulled AIm \'

and Brown tUT turned path for loums. etc; bannisterchaus. shop Ch,:U IS"lqullc mc xpcnsrvel, and mendingcolormg and bcttommg anJ ffi.lklllg other chairsPro vidence.ee

l>mud.losfj h. In a brll to th e Socrcrv of Frie nds Jolted

"'a~' 1';, 17~1. there 1' .1 refe rence to losc ph Pro ud , chairmaker :-";cwr0rt.

"roud. Wl1l!olm. Frum 17(,1 through 176'; lulled Randal]

Hold en lo r sUJ.:ar. tobacco. ~rlC~~ molasses etc. I' tn vi­dence m Extends JJ tes In {;.lTTl:tt, Ill/ I, and RecentDisc overies

Rawsun. JO'fph In 17!l7 lullcd Rev. En" , HItch coc k for a" IIJ~ hut tom chillr (l-w·n." Il-palr ing a m ah ug.m y table0-Y'0,1 ric tu le lram es 0- 100. I vmallt ra mc 0-1-6. a ndI <juan 0 101], l'rovidcuce."! Extends dates in Garren,

Brerkoe and " Rece nt Discovenes. . . ." A " Hag bottom"ch ai r is one with a rush se nt.

RtlWSOll. '( I.scpl! , dlld S" n , On lulv 6. 1811, billeJ EJwarJ

Carrin~lOn for " On e Swcld irOnt mah"j::lny B\lleau S.30"PlllviJcnce.n

Rtlwmn IlIl<J Sl'cllcl'Ilwritten " R" ~ ' '' Il'' but rrub:lblj-' Grin­..10111 RJw~nn anJ DanIel SI"' llc<'I 1 Un luI.' 20, 1772. billeJSilvanus rench's lor 2 ,I'i. tOllt dinner tahles i'S-U. abreakfast tahle 1-.1 '0. J IlJ (, dUllS1'·2-0 ReceipteJ byDaniel Spen cer . ProvIJcn cc : 1Sec Gallen and 18H , Ihisis the fIrst fecord in/: uf th ., tw o ml'n wnrkilllt. together.

(,~ RhoJe Island Munr hl v ~1eelin l: of FrienJs_

6-1 Mi se, MSS (u ncala l"l: ueJI, SeIl I:SA6'> CJII IllJ.:lnn I'arers,on Ca rrlllj:ton I' ape ls67 rJine·Thntll lllll· \'\Iate rm an I'J r ers(,s Almv anJ Brown I'Jrers. Boxes 21'!. 3:;'

69 Rh od e IsI.lnJ ,\ Iunt hl\ .\kl: tllllt. 01 Friend s70 War ..... ick rape ls

11 9 II . I C" Hli'H1 M"Kf Il S

• R!</mlllllci. Wi//rom 0111<1 ,,,hl1. RillcJ Almy and Brown

Mav -l 17<)<), tor a I",," hl'l l'lcad H .; lunc lY, /or a "folder'and 1'.1f,l-llck S ~~ IIII\' lim a luxurack and skimmer

handle S U AU).:U'1 f"l leranin.:.1 des k, S.2:'1 ; and 12hcd' lcad PTn~ S!,. Sq'l I I.;l m.lhng;lny vcntsuck S .!O;On hcdrJII'anJI<I",h Sf'-'.achn rrehar r S6. l\"ov ,

IC'p;llml..:.1 ch.lll S I ;0. Dec . 23. .1 wood horse S.7'; . l.ur. I11'>1.1.2 lire S(":(O< ~ .dICllO).: .I C.I<;.e of drJwe rs S~

,\tal mcndmg .1 sta nd inr Almv .1 'mall cand le Iableaud a b.:JsleJJ JOI Alrnv $2 and rep,llrmg a chair S I".1nd In :\h, iOI ;I picture Irarnc and \.anushmg a chan

S ".0. rcpamn..:.1 dC'sk and hook case S 3.l, and various [UI

n llumher. rwe Idc'nee'~ Extend s d.1les In G;lrreH andJdd. J hrmhcr s n;lmc;ls.I ne w maker.

~,,1 j'un f),mrt/ \1 In lone IklOhllleJ TIm oth y Dean fora co tnn ror hIS Wile ~ Ilurrilivillc', l'ro ba blv more nr Jca rpente r lh.ln a maker.

• \h"/tlelJ kit nil h I, Je!>Crll"l:d JS.I shuI' remer" wh enrommuted In l;ul;l'.1 tcvule of a sur t brought bv ThomasHuw La nd In Ike 17<)0 South 1i. 1n.l:' lUwn .·"

\pel1(l'l f)<lflll.'! I , kno\\'n to be In Providen ce III 1772 P~J.

1717, and 17X<) 179! A Dar ne l Spencer IS recorded IIIBrcrkoc an d C:Jrrc' ll .1' In New por t III 177'> and 1~76 andis li kely t he same man. clI hn ~,ournlll"; there for IWO

vea rs or merelv sdhn..: 10 i" cwr orler s h om Providencej311 Ico rlUd3~1U; corKCI'! II Iurther research proves thistr ucl. Providen ce. Sec C J rre ll. Bjctkoc, a nd "RecentI), sco vc rres

Swnc.I"/'I'': De-cubed as;l chJirm;l kcr of Cove n tr y in adec,1Jat ... 1769 1177'1 or 17/1\1 ~). Cll\'Cn lr)·.n Pro ba bl y Ih e~.lm (' nlJn;ls listed III Cransto n 1O '"Hecent Di s-

<:ove ll"'~ .. .Ind th nelole extend s dJleS th erein(llhelwi' e I~ J nc'W worh'r

. Tador. Am)"",,", On (kll-l. IN l\, hill ed H;lllJall Holum

for6 ch.1irs f" ')' 1· 1·1 0. ()n I\l'l\" 14, 1111 7, billed Thom;ls

L. Creen for hOIWminl: .lud llWnulng 4 chair, SI66War,,"ickJ~

'T}wlIl!un, ~'I<' I' IJ "II , (k~crlhed a~ a " j' llnct" III a kJse

al:rCetnenl 0 1 I 7,V, and .11so in lhe ill\"el1wI\' of his eStalelah'l1 .tltt"! he .lled inlesl.JlC April!, 1737. Among thcil .'ms Ijsl<'d ar c' ""l1e haml saw .Illd sundry carpenler 's!Ools" The e' I.lIe', eOn' lue l,lhlt: housch old Jnu farm

'"I En os Hu ch cock !'.IPC·IS~ ! Ca rrill.!:t"n ra pe r<

73 Co lkc ll fln o i CIJ rksan A, Cull ins ,lrJ,74 Alm \' ;lnd Brow n r;l ['(:ls , ROll: 16,

7:; De.1n r ar er s M ise ,\ 155, D ·.l4 'i, The Rhode IsIJnJHl, tnn ca l s.o<:lctr

,(, RCll.lh Rrown I'Jpcr s

77 T\'~d .\ 155. b)' Ros.all( Fell ows BaIley, April , 1955.The Rh ode IslanJ H lstonCJI SOCll~I\' ,

t" llllp mCllt I' b led III I:,IC.1I ,In.lIl hil l wuh the itelllSdcscnhcd on lv " "ll,llh 1'lOvldcnn"Y

VC<I:lt' Iknl<lllll/l. O n ,\t.1I .!.l, I ~'.l 4 h illed Rev Em "H lIChcod;. 1" 161>1.1.1.; birch rh,ll" 41 Ii ! ,/I·O ;11,,1onMar 22, I ''.l'7 117<)<) ') hIlled the same Customcr tor (,

<:halrs S" ' (In,'',,\'·1 l"l(. hllled .\ \r CUlll1;:I'lll iorhO!lumm).: (. ch.nr-, S2 '>(J and rl'p.liflng 2 ch.nr-, S lJ.

I'tuvnlcncc ~I EXlend, d;lll'S In Recent f)isc(l\"etlc~

\ Ickarr 10 ('ph Ill-n .1 h flm ...n billed the State o i Rhodeh lJ nd on h·h.:!; 17"; for Ca~h p.11d :\1r. lose phvickarv IllI I"C'III\' -cvcn chall' lo r t he use ui State Hou .....

III the Cj'UIII\ 0 ' \ \ ;I,hlll).:wn J 'couth I\llll'''''''' n]1(,-ll·O'; . T" ce-h r;llJ .\ Ir Thom.r-, Cnurell lur the

fral).:ht 01 '.II J ch.nrv trom "e'" pon I" Updike N ewTow n [In same vvar called '"Whl..kio rd. now Wlcl.;_

tu rd J 0·<:;--4 Jlld To CJrllnl: ~.Ild chairs trom Urdlke:-':ew To ...1I In the "laic 11" II' e (1-10 O' C\ <:\\ POl t ~ '

Extends ddt ... III H<:<:c:n l J) i«:oH'r l<:S

. Will/ell dud R II- c m rllnJt hJn \\ .Ilkn . md Joseph Ra wson'III 17/<10> hlll"J Rev Ello, Hucho .... k lor .I mahcz.my stand

I·7-D. a 11;1).: wae rharr u-)0.[,. 11'pJllllH: a mahoc.mv u bleD-1O{l '<juan,moll .md ~plclurelramc,~I' 1-1{l

.111 balanced III r.1Vml·1II n\ h ISSohSulptlon (Q the Con­J:lel' .1 11nlu l <:;oclel\' I hI< brllrs currouvl, sr rrnlar to. butJJi lel en l lr om , Ih al !li loscph Ra" SC>rl'S to Hu chcockJj~ !l' d .rbovc " rm' lde llCl','" It ...ould appear \" .1l1en and

Rawson were more rhan trfc m.m ut act urers ns stated inUlcrkue, a nd , hv .1""CI.lli<lll, WJllcn W,".1 maker wh o,," ,I S workmg wuh Raws on ahour th IS time. Other bilhlor \'JrlnUShUYl'r , ,,'c' m lu hCJr this oul.

Woller/lolt ',., TIIHorhr In ,Kcuwn with Cl atke HodmJn in

'\l.l y JnJ Illh' )7X6. Wal crhou~c' surpl kd I do: , chair• .IIdlffer l'nl {jm e" 4-16 '1)" , "hv a small ch' ll r U-; ·O" ; "bv

rnelllltng 2 dl;lIrs (l ·;O" . ,md ",' months Jusll im r 1:1"' ,I' 'I<: 0111 1.1.IC'COUll! a":,IIII'1 sc hooling " C \VJterhollse J yrs

7,4 ·0," "'1 will! l'fS fIt llll: (). I I.,'1"' and olher en tril'sNt'wl'on .ll4lxlc'lhl, d,llc's ill Bjerkoe anJ Garrel{.

MA '>SAOI UHTlS\1,o.IO.II.S

IMIastuisk indic;ltl" n 'IJlIC 11<11 founu III Bler~oel

' Clark, Ro/'<"/!. On luly I , 17·/,1, R,lchcllllman 0 1Glocester,R,I.• ash·d IIlI lh e dlschar).:e 01 " Roherl C lark 01UlI:hrid,,;e. Juyn er ," h om th l' Providc'nce IJiL~ s

HI W.1lwl ck Papel'

N r aln e·Tholnlnn ·\\'.lt erman Papers,IlO Enos Hitch cock rapelS,III C U rrnl: tUll I'JrelS.!l! Beliah Rro""n r ap er s,,\ £no. HlI ch eock ral'<:r5.

1<-: Rh ....k Is(and .\ {om hh- .\ lce t inl: of Fn endsII'; Alm\' :Jnd flruwn Parc'l s flnx .lO

120 R . I . CABIN ETM AKERS

Figu rt> I . wmdsor Chlllt, 1770·1800. plObobly Rh ode lstand,is an ouu landinj1; example of the ubiqui tous "green chair"found. oi un by rht dozen, in lh t house m ven rones of richand poo r. Wnh its boldly rak ed Ity.s. bIllan ctd turnings,and gractful crest. il IS in old green pamt. but wirh trace.'!of an ta rlit r ltd and bro wn. I t was parr of Ult furnish ingsof rh t Urwrondalt Farm. Thorn ton , R. I., Ult ho m e of

dt>scen,ldnts of Chn' lopht>r Roll/nwm 01Soulh xmgstcwnand Robt'l l Lawton of Ne wport. and wa.~ dJ,ICUHt>d ill TheProvid ence lourn al lJf Oc tobe r 13. 1935, It iI privatelyo wn,,'/,

FigufC 2. A slmi},u fan'bdck Win,b m , bUI wi th II braceback. !II oriKindl j1;rt>t> n purnt. was found wi lh the cha n inFIgur e L

2

•Hall , Andrew and Edward , Descr ibed 3S "cabinetmakers ofBoston" and sons of Andrew H, Hall, who marr ied in172.3 and died in 1768. Edward Hall is l isted in Bjerknc,but And rew, born in 1724, appears to be a new worker.se

-jones. Btniamin and Son, On Dec. 17, 1772, billed Rev.Enos Hit chcock -r os turned up Bedstead o. I2'()";"raising sprinll:s on your Shay 0-14" , on Aug. 30, "To alarge Table 1·14"; on Nov. 26, "To planing and polishinglab!e 0-3{)" ; and on Dec. 29, "To polishing Stand TableG-I'()." In a note of Dec. 1773, HItchcock instructed Car'uin Cleave s 10 pay Jones 6·18.(), presumably for addi­tional goods . Beverly." Th is is before Hitchcock movedto Providence.

•Mann in:;: . EdwMd. In 1770hilled "Sir Hitchcock" in "oldrenorvtor making a tab le 2-5'0 and "to mending chairsand puung up shelves usc for hbrury 3·7-6." ProbablyBevcrly.~~

•Me.I.ler . Natha niel, /1. Described as " Joyner" indeed ofDec, 12, 17611. Methueu.sv

' Woodward, Ar ll'md.~. An undat ed. but c irca 1790-1800notestales: "Artemus Woo,oJward living in Medfiel d Massa­chuse tts cabinetmaker Son of Deacon Woodward of NewTown' '90 Whether New Town is in Massachusetts orRhod e Island is uncerta in.

86 Halls of New En1Jand. Albany, N. Y., 188.~.

87 Enos Hllcheock Papers .88 ibid.El9 Misc. MSS. juncaulogued). The Rhode Island Historical

Society.90 Almy and Brown Papers, Box 29.

121 R. I, CABINETMAKERS

PARTIAL I:-.iVESTOkY Of THE SHIP

GEORGE Asn ,"lAkY , OUT OF PROVIOINCf.

AND BOUND fOR BUINOS AIRIS ,

APklt 9 , 1810

, Doren white .:mJ ~olJ chairs 'i.~_.~ $108., ditto smgle cross ~IS2.67 99I ditto brown and gold chaus ~, Sl.2:'i 27.I ditto double cross "'S.'. .16.72 Comh Hack [uncertain]

Winsor chai rs '" 51,,1R 99. ;1'1 Straight [uncertain] ditto "'51. ,15 112 Who fancy duro 'u S-l c16.I Settee 18% Chairs fir S1.25 120.I High l'ost RcJSlc..J ll!.60 Bent 8.1(:],; CO<jUI11COI

I ror sv red I WI0501 Chain "'SI ,2; 7.".L!. ditto Yellow dltlu ,. 51 I .; "72 Bamboo Coquihcot duro ~'SI .12 : "IH Yellow Brown and Red

ditto h$1 I"Box conn I hi~h postmahoganv bedsteads ~'S22 , "I duro 1 dirrc 4, $14 "2 UIllO 4 MarIe ditto 4'$]]. 52.

., ditto S Field JiHO ~, $12. 602 dnroJ ninin~ Tables (" Sill, S4.I duro 2 Bre.ikfast ditto «, SI4 28.I ditto 2 Tea duto «su. 24.2 duro 8 Square and round

TCd Tables f(lS 8. M.2 duro 2 Bureaus 4'Slll 56.

JIIW 1 Bureau 20I duro I Bureau ".! ditto 2 Sham S<.'creurn f ' S21t 56.I Box contg I Sham Secretary 28.I JiIIO I rillar and cl aw

pembroke Table n .ditto 1 Pembroke Tahles ~'S"'. 18.

[NOIe: Only dry goods came from Boston on this shrpmeru.]

I ditto 2 duro f S15. 30.I ditto 1 Duung 't'able 12I dnto 2 pembroke Tables •• Sl5 30I ditto 2 ditto f'SIO 20I ditto 2 ditto tJ Sl8 36I ditto I ditto 6.I drno I ditto 17.I dina I Secretary ~S .

I ditto I High post beds tead u.t8 Cabrtole sophas ~'SI2. 96.2 Straight front sophus ~'S17.SO 35.I Mahoganv Secreta ry 40.I Mahu!:any Bureau 25.10 Burch Bedsteads 'n 5010. 100.11 Black winsor chairs '<'5\50 18.IR ditto "'SI.50 27.6 Plane cherry J feet Tables "'$6. 36.6 duro " S(.. 36.2 MaboRanydiltn "'SlO. 2010 Burch bedsteads ~ISIO 100J Swetl'd Chen}' Bureaus ' -'SI '; ~:l_

1 Gentleman 's cahmet 120I Ladses ' "hltn 130.I r- Card Tables t'SIR .16I Straight iron! Bureau 17.I Night Table 18I NIght Table and Wash Stand 25.(, Cherry Bureaus ~, Sil 66.Pard Truckage Iurnnure to the

packet in New YOlk 3.75Paid labourers rutin): goods on

hoard packet duro 1.28Comd paid on purchase of

cordials [beverages that werealso shipped in quanntv!furniture , etc. ~ 118,;7

90 Boxes tor and packingfurniture 95 .

M;ntlng ChAITS 10.FrCI,i/;hl oi CorJijls furniture

CIC. from New Yotk 220.Coveung for sorhJs 6.U7

pOrt of proOiDfllCf.

Under r!;l-\ Ilr<ldHli<. The Providence Gazette of Aprill4,ISI0. reporlrd. ·· . . Cleured. Ship Gcot)l,eand Mary ...Buennc AYln ..

122

The Rhode Island HistoricalSociety Film Arch ive:

A Progress Report

O rganizauon of a film archive appears outwardlysimple: locare J. large quantity of historically relevan t

film, lind a place to store it, and ob tain fund ing forcataloguing pur poses, preservation, and the purchaseof editin,.:: and viewing eq uipment.

In the CJ!>C of the Rhode Islan d Histor ical Society'shurgeoning film arch ive. th e problems wer e sornc­

what more complex. T he oppn rnmitv to begin a pilot

pruiccr in the film archive business first presenteditse lf whe n Joseph Fogarty, th e adrnini stt anvc assist­an t to the publ ic service dir ector of WPRI ·TVsUJ1J:cslcd to Albert Klyherg, the Socie ty's libr arian ,and to th is au tho r, that the Society mi ,.:: h t have aninte rest in the la ten t poten tial of WP RI-TV 's bac klog

of ncwshlm as a basis for a ve ry lively look at Rh odeIsland's current h istory. Ah cr some th ough t theSoctetv accepted both the tremendous opportunity

and challenge of the pro posit ion .

Once the proposi tion was accepted, the other Rh odeIsland stations-WI AR-T V and \""TE. V-TV -wer econtacted and both ag reed to aMist the pro ject bydonaung their pertinent newsfilm. T h us the founda­tions of the archive were sct. There foll owed a

per iod of m uch carting and haul ing of over a qua rterm ill ion Iect of film-no m ean tas k in iself.

Even while hand ling the job of i ilm acq u isition, it..... as obv ious th at m or e form ida ble problems wou ld

ari se soon. H ow should all tha t film be catalo guedand stored in th e m ost economica l and preservation ­co nsc ious manner ! Here it should be n oted tha t whilelar ge film arch ives do exis t land the y arc invariably

gove rnmen t-su ppo rted), eve n the lntcrnanon ul Sucie ty01Film Arch ivists (F1 AFJ has bee n unable to stan dard­

izc cala lo):;uinK methods, d ue largclv to the nature offilm itself. M ost arch ives [e.g. the Lib rary of Co ng ressFilm Arch ive] spec ialize in the prese rvat ion of a n is­ticallv h istoric films [i.e. princi pall y feature fil ms! andonly secondarily do they preserve items such as theold Pathe newsreels. Th e Rhod e Island HistoricalSociety found it<,elf in some what of a unique position

pr Kathlecn Karr '

in that it was attempting to sto re and catalogue itemsof HIm rclanng to pohucal figures and news eventsthat arc sometimes onl y as lon g as 10 feel lor roughly15 seconds of screen time, a ve ry sm.111 qua nt ity of

film when co m pared to m or e easily handled featurefil ms in un i ts of 3£XXJ to 4£XXJ teetl.

T he problem, clearly, wa s eithe r to find preced ents,

or to make th em . Visits were made to th e filmarchival ce n ters of the United States. In washington ,D .C. , un der th e tutelage of Sam Kula , the head

arch ivist of th e American Film Ins titu te, st udies werem ade of the fi lm storage and cataloguing sys tems ofthe libr ary of Co ng ress and the National Arch ives.While ther e was m uch useful in form ation gain ed ,there was no pracncul cataloguing system in use. T he

Film l ibr ary of the Museum of M odern Art in NewYork Cuv was helpful, but the sys te m closest to theSoc iety'S pecul iar needs was finally located in the

"stock-shot" library of the Sherman Grinberg Com­pany, the largest film library of its kind in the world.Here, throu):;h an el.tboratcly cross-indexed card filingsvstcm, the nlms 01 several major i ilm stud ius, aswel l as the entire newsfil m output 01ABC-TV Are

org. miccd fur quick retrieval.The Society's cata logui ng process, an ada pted ver­

sion ul th e sherma n Gri nberg system, is a '"1' 111 ti me ­co ns umi ng one. It in volves the viewi ng of eve ry footot ub u and wri ti ng a co nc ise, ye t complete su m m ary

nf whn t is see n and said. Com ple te cross-I n de xesmust he mad e up for filing purposes, and the filmitself must be cleaned and rep aired as necessary , aswel l as prep ared for lon g-term sto rage. T ime must also

be spe nt in dec id ing wh et her or not a given piece offilm is ro be preser ve d permanen tl y, J sometimesdiff icult decision to make.

O f course, the first item needed for rhc properru n ning of a fil m arch ive is fund ing Film, ug.rin due

to irs peculiu nature, is much more expensive tostore archivallv than manuscripts or newsp.rpers

....·hile having about thc same Iiie span j2OCk\OO yearsl

0.\1 " !i..ITI IlOJ(hes a CllUT'>C on the Irlm at ProvidenceCnlle,<:c. She an d her husband Law rence Karr. who IS inrhc l'hvvrcs Department at llrown Un in,rsily, havevolumccrcd 10 help the S,,(il'ly ntJbli,h it, nfm archive.

ILl flL\\ ARClIlVE

/fUtfh.. !J { I' I, a J yll'. 1 ,1I -A\IIlT.! \\i nnm.l: docu·m n1<.l1} II/m/ \ \ .... /AR T\ <.l ,lmplt o r ti le /f ur/Qu aNenJ<Jt<'rlil/ m ,h<' ~ocu~ r \', 11<' ,," ,I/chi\"e,

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as fine qualitv paper . However, the act III luokin,:: Jl

a film in 'I pr otector o r viewer CJUSC~ some ~m3.11 dam ­

J,::eeach lime the iilm h \ lcwcd and vhnrte ns uslifespa n . due [0 rom ~rr"ck"'l holes ccrarchcs in theemulsion [pic ture laver! ere T he onl v \\'.1)' III pre­

serve the film dose to it, ori~illal condition is tomatnt.uu at 1e.1St two copies IIf ;\ piece of film: oneprin t for scn-cning . md rh c other as a m aster print ,trom which additinna ] co pies arc m ade whe n th e

screening print wea rs our At the presen t ti me, m ostfilms in the archive ex ist onlv as In ori~inJI co pyTh us. in the futu re, as the films become damaged

IhrouRh use, addiunnal funds will have to he devotedtowa rd making master preserva tio n copies

He re th e next problem artscs T o have an adequatecollect inn of region al currcn t history to anrnct h is­torians at the prese nt lim e, it is n cccssat v to re-tracethe film hi smrv (If Rh od e lsl .md to th e hcginning of

l ilm ihdl fa usable begin n ing date ot rhc ind ustry inthe United Sratcd is I"9~ 1. Thcorencallv , then , rherci ~ the r()s~l hili IV th.n historicnllv interes ting eventsrelating ro Rhode Island as recorded on film mighteXiSI 3.~ I.IT hac k as the turn ot the ce n tu rv hy whichrime camera enthusiasts e xisted in a su prisin,i; ly large

qua n tity in thc n orrh ea vtcrn part 0 1the Un ited States.

T u rn ing thc th cur eti c,I1 in to the prn ctfral is ,I large

quest ion m ark , and the TC,\Snn is again traced to th e"Hlmnc-,s" of rh c m ot ion pict ur e. From i inc ep tio n,

film base W.IS made from ce llulose nitrate (the N inTxT also stands for nitrate] which is hi~hly flam­mahle and has been responsihle for J numhe r of rather

tcroclous movie thea tre tires Nitra te fil m was man­uf acrurcd and used in this country unt il 1951 , whi chm arke d the in trodu ction o f "sa fety" film made fromcellulose acet at e. "Sa fety" film did exi s t bef or e 1951 ,

mostly in tr-mm . and smaller ,i;auges [typical of that

12~ flL.\t ARC H IV[

used by the home movie cnthuviast]. The Ie;:al rcsmc­

tions on the handling 01 nitrate film that arose fromearly rhc arrc lues required expensive storage and pro­

recticn facilities tha t could he afforded nn ly by com­mcrcfal upcr.uinn... The film used by pro fe s~i onJ l s andshown in thea tr es is ,15 m m w ide, and is invariably

nirrute, if taken prior to !1)51. Nitrate film posesdiffi­culrics bcvund it.; rlamm ahiluv since it has a tendencyto shrink and to deteriorate with age. Such det eriora­tion is accelerated by improper storage cond itions,

and, even under the best of storage conditions someshrinkage is inevitable. This sh rinkage sends the costsot tramferrin~ the images to satety hi m skvrockcungdrastically Thus, in order to obtain a reason able filmpicture of pre·19SI Rhude Isla nd , ni trate film and its

co..rs inevi uhly have to be dealt with .Although the H istor ical Socie ty is or ganiz ed to op­

erate on a Ir-rnm. fi lm ll3 sis, since all of the TVStiltions work in l smrn.fand because it is cheape r than.l5mm, nlm], there rem ains the problem o f locating

pcninent early footage. in\'a riably on 35mm. nitra tefilm, and transferring it 10 lemm. safetv film. The

Soctetv already owns one piece of 35mm. nitrate hi mthat ca n serve 3S an exa mple o f the en tire proble m

In 1926 Edwa rd Albee, of the vaudeville theatre chai n,donated 10 the Socie ty an d the people of Rhode Islan dIS mi n u tes of film showing tilt: Grand Arm y of theRe pu blic marc hing rbmugh dow ntown Prov idence onthe ~th oi luly in 1926. The donanon spl.'cified rha rthe film be preserved in o rder that it be sc reened on

An example "I '''Ill\' dtraior<lud niu<llr hlm in jf5

lllilmlllt 'fd,~.· ,11(1"" rhe nud,or (,llrl~' atfentlon lfJ rub,ull In u'lI/,lt ,'ondltl' m.

rhe -tth ot lul~' in 1970. The film itself is on an amber.tinted stock, except lo r a short portion tinted in blueand pink showing the American Hag waving 3gainstthe word s of the "Star Spangled Banne r."

Clearly th is piece of film m us t he tr ansfe rred to

safety stoc k before it det er iorat es bey ond saving. It ha s

a lrcndv sh runk by about 2%. which m akes it impossi­ble to pro ject on a sta ndard m ovie prcicctnr whhou r rhedange r of desnoyin~ the film. The estim ated COSI of

JUSt this one tr an sferr a l 10 l timm . safety film is 5300 .Conside r the escalation at preservation costs as other

and eve n more important ,lSmm. nitratc ioota,!::e islocated,

Beyond the issue of sav ing nitra te is that 01 lindingit. The Society has begu n 10 put out its feele rs for old

film in suc h obvious ways as the recent Icmurc art iclein th e I'rovitl.'llce 'nu rnll! aski ng peo ple tu st retchtheir mem ories and hun t th rough their ames for theseprizes. Thus far the Society does have a number of

other important and/or hi!,:hly inte resting pieces 01

early 111m lnckilv alreadv in Iemm. Among theseacqulcuon-, arc ' abour 10 minutes of footage of the191:i Labor Dav parade in Providen ce ; 3 him of the1930 America's Cup races ott Newport; a Peabody.

nwa rd-wtnning dnc umcntnrv on H urr icane Carol in19."4; and tuotagc of the l. ne Senato r G ree n, 10men tion J few.

In conclusion, the Rhode Isla nd Historical Society

has taken a large joh upon ilself in i n itiJtin~ the limsratcwldc film archive in the country. nut with the

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.::. T

J' •., filM ARUU\'[

TV co er<Il:C of fhe lale U ~ Sco<Jwr Th"nJ01e francis(.r('en pre (n t' <I m,JnJ.'olof IIII/Orr.

Now fdm urchi\·js(s are alking, "Is thar. somrwhf'fl'.fO'JliJf.l: of fhe colorful NRA parade of 0<:10/>('( 2.193.3.when C ovcr nor Creon marched <It n\ hl'ad: Tim picture).\ from a l''''tN m ilde fOI the Town Cncrs of Rhode I-lla n<1.

Sound lIdded force to the Commumtv Fund appeal mad", tol'rlWJdc/lc(' uudit'oct'\ 111 th e 1930:; a.\ th e'COUlllty W<I,\

" .•. ,10011 10 paH thW ll,'t.h the fourth Wl/lln of rhr,k l' F<' S ~ I (>/I . ..

116 FlBI ARCHI \"(.

ThIS smgle frame II f'nlar.I';f'J from d 16mm ntm of fhf' 1915Pm\ Idena LIlw', Dev Pllla"e now m the ~OCll'n' s tlrchn-cFollowcd br unton memht-n. Ihe flfJdt of lhl' Thl'dlrl'ProlectlOnI\[' UnIOn vi the Illtl'tlIdllOndl AIII"nH~OfTIII'.llflCdl ,md 'Idle Employl"" Cdrnn ,I PUW'·I.' motIOnrlClu rl' pW/t"ctor. The 8 rmnnn- ! l /m \\'a.< .1<11'('</ / /"m<IIli/ l lt'.l: F<!lUJ/l I,y Mr, J{uHdJ ,\.'iI'<ll1n, <l lld IlJ tl," nncs

lill' /mp"rla/H t:0I1l1J1'1I11011 /'r]\',l[t' t:ollet:rof.' .nc mdking10 rlll'a rchlVC,

problems co me lhe contingent bcn cfus : lor th e firstt im e, schnt.n s nf today a/HI till' future will he ublc to

vic wat the ar chive real political figul es in th e wheel ­in g an d dcnhng process of creating rhe ir ca ree rs and

reput a t ion s, will he ab le (0 sec hi sto ry !ill'/,illy bein gmade not onlv in these and ot he r state ligures, hut

also thc historv thu r occu rs h ~' natural C3U"CS. Apicture is lndccd wo rth a th ou san d word s, hut a m ov-

AC K-';OWUlll; \I E"' TS

T he Rhode leland His torical Socie ty has had the help

of m an y ind ivldualv in the process of in augu rati ngits iilm Jr ch h c. Am ong those it wou ld part icularly

in):!;, liv in g picture, co m plete w ith the spoken wo rd

m ay he wnnh many mort' . D. \"1. Griffith perhapsvoiced the issue bett er in IY24 when h e said-

Tile IIllIlioll "iewre i, a child Ihal 11I1~ hxn gn ellhie ill ou r ,l:.Cllt' ra lioll. \Vl' "onr souls Cdll ~drccly\'isuu!J:e or dream of If.\ pO.Hlhi/ltic~. \\'c oll,:/u to /'eklllJ h il1l il III us usc o;() lh a l ill us lIlulurlly If II/,J}'

look l>.Kk on It, dlildll00l.1 Wir/lUur It-gr,',-

like 10 tha nk arc Jos-cph FngJ rly an d M ario Svacmaa t W PRI·T\, ; Ray Pass. To m Mcljerm on , and Gus

Co rdeiro 01 WJAR-TV ; and Jack Delancy an dTruman Ta ylor 01 \\'TEV·TV,

Il7

Richard LeBaron Bowen, 1878·1969

With the death of Richard LcBaron Bowen on AU,R;usl

9th the Society lost J longtime member and devoted

SUPf'OrlCr. Mr. Rowen had <;eTVl.'U in many capacities

aft cr hec()m in~.1 member on February 10, 19.32.For several years he was a member 01 the BuiIJinl':"

and Grounds Commtncc, holding the chairmanship

in 19·B-~. and Kivin,l: up this office to becomevicc-prcstdcru in 19-4-4 .

In 1945 :-OiT. Bowen was elect ed president of the

Sncicty and remained in otfice until he retired in 1951.On that occasion the annual mceuna adopted thefollowing revolution :

"Durin!': 1Ji ~ tnlJl\ of officc tIJl' Society Il<l~ derived10: '('<11 hClldll from IJi ~ cx cdknl iudgmcniand(' xinlfi\ C d/'l l llY; h is udmi nis tra rhm h" s been OUf ­

I/andmg. n n/ o n1r in <I n CXCCUt! \'C wa ,.. b ut also as adg tinglll~hcd alllhor an d h i, rur ian tl' ahzing thtH'Tile mot ,~ of th,' rrocllt lie decp in thc paH: he Iias,l(1\'cn freely of lli\' rune. laJl'm dud Iuhor to rhe Society,md to llle cOIll1lJUn ily at Illlgc

,\1r. Bowen conmbutcd numerous articles on

hivroncal arul genealogical and heraldic subjects toN ew EngbnJ periodicals In the Socterv's Co llec /ionsand·Rllod e Island History he published " T he Armsof Richard SCott," 1'J39 , " T he SCOtt Fam ily NeedleWork," 194-'; "The Society's Ori;.?;i nal M anuscripts,

Capt. Robert Kcavnc's No te Books," 19·0; " John SCOlt ,Mcrchanr," 1'J45; and " God frey M albonc'v ArmorialSilver ," 1950. Articles on the earlv families and history

of rbe Rehoboth and Providence areas also appearedin the N ew En,l( l..md H htoricaI dnll Gene<llnglcaIR('gi.~tcr

EMly /{"ho/'oth , /)oculllen!,',[ Hi.ltoriCdl Studies ofFannues and Event s ill Tlli~ Plymouth Colony Town.

~h j f'. 194~·~O, was hts most important publication.

Of the l ir,>t volume Clifford K. Shipton of theAmerican Annquarian Socrctv wrote " . . . this is one01 the most ,>olidly useful books of us kind published

for many yca rs. Of the second vo lume he said, "l nfac t, the only fault one ca n find wi th the volume is

that there is not more of it ." Of the third volume hisreview stated, " Th e style has the crisp , factual qualityof J legal brief."

Another major work was his Irllkx 10 til... EmirR" COId~ III th ... T all II Hi Prill hJ.:ncc. published bv theSociety in 1949 with the financial support 0 1 th e Cilyof Providence. Oi rhi-, work Clarence S, Brigham

wrote ". . scholars ;H~' grearlv indebted tu him andrejoice th,ll he has produced so valuable a refer en cebook: ' and the Society in the lY:l1 resolutionpreviously quoted hom called it " .. . in usclf an

oursrandmg memorial o r his administration , and theunancing , hy the City 01 Providence . a tribute

to his diplomatic handling oJ rhc matter ."He also su pervised the facsimile reprint of th e

sca rce volume XXI 01 T!Je E,aly }1.ewrd\ of tile TlJWl\

u/ l'rov i.lt'llce. issued by the Suciety in 1950 .In 1942 the Society of Col onial Wars in the State 01

Rhode Island published ;\1r. Bowen's TIle Providen ce

o <llh of Alkgldncc a nd lfS Slgnns 165J ·2 and in thesame year issued his Rhode Island Col onial Alon e}'dud Its Cpl11Jterfeitlllg.

J\1. r. Bo wen served on seve ral commtnccs of theNew England H istoric and Genealogical Society , was

In honorary member oi the Society oi the Cincinnatiand a member or the Rhode Island Society oi Colonialwars and th e Arncncan Antiquarian Society. Electeda Fellow 0 1 the Society 01 Genea logists 0 1 London ,

England, 111 1955, he was one of four men to holdmembe rship in bo th the American and EnglishSocieties of Genealogists.

Besides his sch olarly pursuus, Mr. Bowen served

in the Spamvh.Americun war and in the Rhode IslandNational GUJrd and was elected 10 a term III theRhude Isl.md House oi Rcprc scntntives ill 1915.

A textile munufucturc r, ,1\-1r. Bowen was Presiden tand Treasurer of the Coated Textile M ills, Inc. ofProvidence and the Bowen ;,\1ills oi P.awllJckeI.

.\iT. Bowen '-'as born in East Providence April 4,IH7H, son 01 Thomas Lebaron and Clare Francis[Carpen ter] Howcn.Hc was educated at the Rhode

Island School ot Iksign and srudicd three yea rs atBrown in the class of 1901.

CLARKSO~ A. COLLINS, JRD

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12/\

Director's Newsletter

Since the previous Di rector's Newsle tter, many im­pur rant items have come to thc Society, principallyto rhe hhrary bv purchase and ,::ih. Neatly ninemonths 01 negouauon on the part of the Librar ianresulted ill the acquisitron of an importa nt Rogerwrlhams' document , a fou r' page account ot hi sparlcv .... ith rhe Indians prior to their dcs rrucuon ofprovidence in Kin!: Philip's war, 1676. The docume ntI!> nor in the hand ot Will i.lms, but it is a con­tcrnporarv copy and thc only evidence th us farknown to subvtanna re various traditions about thoselalks At J future date we will do a full publication01 rhts document and ir will appea r in .I. ne wspape rarticle. Other purchases include: Civil \\'JT letters ofGcor,::c Bliss; a ('!'I7-pdl:e lcner press book of Am broseBumsnle tor the vea rs 1/\69-1871; the or i!:inal pennontor the establishment of the Barrington Co ngrega­nnnal Church, 1771; anothe r volume o t Jam esBrown's Ji;l')' ; a collection (If forme r Governor andUnncd States Sen ator George P. wetmore's pap ers.and rwn Revcluuonarv War tax books of rhe town01 joh nston .

Among the gilts we rece ived we re over 700 ph oto­graph ic ncgauvc s trom Mrs. Frederick Mason ofBarr ington which we re taken by Harold Mason !l 881­1 'J~4 1 fOI h is wo rk, [)OorWlIP of I'rovtdcncc. \\'e arealso gratefu l for the Sessions Fam ily Papers from M rs.Madeline A, Sessions, and the Nigbnngalc FamilyReco rds irom Mrs. Norm an Baker. Through thekind ness o f Mr . an d M rs. Burges Gr een we received.1 LngI.' collccuun of Rh ude Island pamphlets and

hooks trom tho.' lib rary ui forme r Unncd Sta res SenatorT heodore F. Gree n .

T h is Fall, alon~ w ith ou r not ices of mem ber sh ipdues, each membe r w ill rece ive a map as J ~i it [romthe Society . The ma p i!i. J reprint of the Caleb Harrismap 01 Rhode blJ nJ, 1795, the first map ma de otRhode leland atter it joined the Union . T he mapw as reprinted from the or iginal coppe r plate engrav­ing, which is in the Suciety 's lib ra')' . T he Socie tylook s ior w ard 10 cooperati ng w ith the newly-formedState Commission established to ove rsee the celebra­tion ot Rhode Island's two hu ndredth annive rsary,1976, of independence irom En,::land. State Repre­sentative George F. McDonald , Ir., is the Commissionchairman

It was ..... ith regret that wc canceled the Fall lecturesc ncs on Victorian Ta ste. Because of many otherFall programs the subscript ion ....-us not sufficientlylarge to finance the venture. T he program has beenrescheduled JS the Sprinlot 's lecture ser ies whe n man ypeople have mo re tree time and w he n ir w ill coi nci dew irh the Provid en ce Preser vat ion Society's StreetFcsnval. The Prcscrva rinn Society plan s to ope n manyVicto rian homes an d it seems providen tial rhat ourVictorian se ries wiII coincide with their event.

Since th is is the last Dir ector's New sle tter that Iwill have the pleas ure to write, I wish to thank firs tth e sta ff fO I its conti n ued efforts to in crease theSOciCIY'S program s and also th e Board of Trusteesfo r its gu idance and su pport.

10HN T . KIRK

Dt.jigntd by Malcolm Gmn DtJi.Rflt'u, Inc.Type se t by Craftsman Type. Inc.P,mf~d by Fortmml Limo81aph Co.

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